On August 9, 2017, Engineers Canada lead teachers from Atlantic Canada through a three-hour workshop about bringing STEM into the classroom.
On August 9, 2017, Engineers Canada lead teachers from Atlantic Canada through a three-hour workshop about bringing STEM into the classroom.
Engineers Canada’s Practice Lead, Community Engagement, Julia Chehaiber spoke to teachers at the Conference on New Techniques and Classroom Teaching (CONTACT), helping them to gain an understanding about Engineers Canada and the engineering profession, and what it takes to turn a generic classroom into a STEM classroom through STEM lesson plans.
The teachers then teamed up in groups to build models of a Future City, as a way to demonstrate how the Future City Competition and associated curriculum activities can be an appropriate instructional strategy for STEM classrooms.
The Future City Competition asks students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 to research, design, and build their vision of a future city. It brings the engineering design process into the classroom and increases students’ exposure to engineering. The competition is entering its 26th year in the United States, and Engineers Canada brought it to Canada for the first time in 2016-2017, with students from eight classrooms in P.E.I. and 50 classrooms in the Durham District School Board in Ontario participating. Engineers Canada is working to expand the program to more schools in the coming years.
CONTACT is a regional conference sponsored by the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association, the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, the Prince Edward Island Teachers’ Federation and the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association. The conference provides an opportunity for teachers from Atlantic Canada to come together to share ideas, reflect on experiences, and celebrate all that is best about teaching. It attracts over 100 teachers annually.
