Marshall County schools are making great strides in increasing the skills of our future workforce, which according to area businesses will benefit regional employers. Every school corporation in the county expanded the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses offered this year through a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) grant.
The STEM curriculum begins in K-5 with the Launch program focusing on problem solving through structured approaches and critical thinking. The Gateway program offers project-based learning courses in engineering and biomedical science for middle school students. Courses in engineering, biomedical science, and computer science are offered at the high school level.
This is the second year that the region has had access to the $4.4 million PLTW grant. In 2013, Marshall County raised $250,000 providing the local match required for the grant.
STEM courses currently being offered include the following: The Launch program for K-5 has already been included in the four elementary schools in Plymouth and at Triton. It’s a new program at Argos and Bremen this school year. Gateway has been implemented into the classrooms in grades 6 through 8 at Argos, Bremen, Plymouth and Triton and is new this year in Culver.
Area high schools have been offering a variety of STEM courses with a couple of new ones being added this year. Argos High School opted to bring on a computer science program for grades 9 – 12 this year and Bremen added engineering this year to their biomedical science course. Culver has the engineering course while Plymouth has been offering a biomedical science course along with engineering. Triton High School had the biomedical course and this year added engineering.
Other noteworthy Project Lead The Way statistics include 21 STEM courses being offered in Marshall County in 2015-2016, up from 4 courses two years ago. Marshall County is second only to St. Joseph County in the 5-county region for the number of courses implemented and 9.500 Marshall County students have access to PLTW courses.
Funding for implementing additional programs will be available through 2016.
Provided by MCEDC
