Westwood Recognized for Engineering Excellence
By Monica Parker-James

If you want to keep a Popsicle from melting, just ask a Westwood fifth grader.  But don’t be surprised if your explanation includes phrases like “heat energy transfer” or “convection and conduction.”  This year, the Westwood Public Schools implemented the first phase of a system-wide initiative to enhance the science curriculum by piloting new engineering design projects.  This week, the town was recognized in a ceremony at the Museum of Science for its efforts toward integrating the state’s technology and engineering standards into the K-12 curriculum.

In the summer of 2007, a team of Westwood teachers attended the Museum’s
Gateway Institute and created a preliminary plan for a K-12 Engineering Design Curriculum.  A grant from the Westwood Educational Foundation provided nearly $20,000 for the professional development and teaching materials necessary to pilot the program in third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms this fall.  The program earned Westwood distinction as a “school district leading the technology/engineering revolution” by the Museum of Science’s National Center for Technological Literacy.

“We are so excited and proud that Westwood was chosen as a showcase district,” said Dr. Avalin Green, Westwood Public Schools Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
 
The program asked students to think like engineers to solve a series of challenges using the engineering design process.  Third graders modeled a busy intersection in their classroom and studied the changes brought on by modifications such as traffic lights and pedestrian crosswalks.  Fourth graders designed alarm circuits as a way to study electricity and electrical engineering.  Fifth graders were tasked with developing a method for transporting a Popsicle to school in a container that would keep it from melting for several hours.

The idea for the engineering design projects came after members of Westwood’s K-12 Science Curriculum Review Committee recognized shortcomings in the district’s elementary science program.  Specifically, members saw the need to address the lack of a systematic plan for teaching Massachusetts’s engineering and technology standards. 

“The projects provide a way for students to apply concepts that they’ve learned, which helps them to retain information,” said Martha Jones School fifth grade teacher Anthony Cohutt, a member of the review committee who attended the Museum’s Gateway Institute.

Dr. Green, who applied for the WEF grant for seed funding for the program, would ultimately like to see the projects implemented in grades K, 1, and 2.  Plans also include the development of new engineering design units in grades 6-12.