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Article Excerpt
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Running a successful technology education lab and delivering curriculum in today's educational environment can be busy, misunderstood, and downright exhausting. Keeping up with growing and emerging technologies, educating the school and community on what your program is really all about, and running after-school technology and engineering clubs leaves precious little time for anything else. On top of all of that, investing in a STEM outreach program isn't even close to feasible, right? Even if it's far more feasible than one might think, to suggest that such a program is a "necessity" is downright foolish, isn't it? Not in our opinion. In fact, Pennsylvania Standard 3.8.12 mandates that students "apply the use of ingenuity and technological resources to solve specific societal needs and improve the quality of life" (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2002). Further, Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) Standards 4, 5, 6, and 13 all relate to the impacts of technology on the environment and society in general (ITEA, 2000/2002/2007). Whether through a school's technology education curriculum, through a cocurricular STEM-related club, or a combination of both, it would seem that investment in an outreach program is a compelling way to address perhaps the most important standard charged to technology educators across the commonwealth today.
Our Example, But By No Means Our Idea
Originally developed as an extension of the Lower Merion High School Technology & Engineering Club's FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team in October of 2007, Portable Inspiration was designed to expose students, educators, and communities to the experience of engineering and the design process. The program is fueled by a passion to provide others with opportunities to learn about the excitement and benefits of STEM, robotics education, and competition through hands-on experiences. There are also clear benefits for those...
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