The following was written by Michelle Ming, a high school engineering and computer science teacher and a DoD STEM Ambassador. DoD STEM Ambassadors work with the Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) to advance STEM outreach for students who are underrepresented in STEM or military connected. Ming was selected by TIES, a DSEC partner, as its DoD STEM Ambassador for the 2022-2023 school year.

I had been teaching for about 20 years when I discovered project-based learning (PBL). I was thrilled to find PBL resource websites that were very helpful. I soon determined that in order to meet the needs of my inner-city students, I had to shorten projects and modify my approach. Over time this evolved into a series of lessons containing application activities followed by a culminating project. Little did I know that someday I would teach Project Lead the Way (PLTW) engineering courses, which use a modified PBL approach called APB—an activity-, project-, and problem-based instructional approach—which is an incredibly powerful tool that goes beyond problem-based and project-based learning.

According to PLTW, each of their engineering courses “engages students in interdisciplinary activities like working with a client to design a home, programming electronic devices or robotic arms, or exploring algae as a biofuel source. These activities not only build knowledge and skills in engineering, but also empower students to develop essential skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and perseverance.”

Activities, projects, and open-ended problems expand students' minds and help them focus on the deeper issues within given content. Students are required to be precise with calculations and measurements—just like engineers. Open-ended problems also require students to use mathematics and, just as important, make the exercise relevant to real life. They provide students freedom to think creatively and critically, which spurs further independent thinking—leading students to become more self-directed while pursuing their goals.

I have spent most of my career teaching in inner-city schools and have determined that it is most effective if I speak for 10 minutes at most before I set the students free to tackle a timed task. It is important that the task is well-defined and executable within the given time frame. Students must expect that I will speak off and on during the lesson, so I start out by sharing how the 70-minute class is organized. I tell students that we work “bell to bell.” We use the last 10 minutes to share feedback on how they feel about the assignment. Successful? Frustrated? Do they need additional clarification? Maybe they need individual assistance if they are not accessing the content. We also use this time to strategize on what may be best for them based on how they learn best.

I have learned to create graphic organizers for specific activities and projects, thereby adjusting the content to make it more accessible to every student. Every year, I learn new ways to present engineering content by interacting with students and collaborating on my teaching approach. Together we find ways to make these activities and projects work for each of them.

Once students have independently mastered STEM activities and successfully completed the team projects, they embark on an open-ended real-world problem that requires using the Engineering Design Process. The open-ended problems are also completed independently. I believe that in order to truly develop students who are prepared to study STEM in college, we must insist on requiring that they apply what they have learned to solving open-ended problems, and their solutions must meet a rigorous rubric covering accuracy, precision, analysis, and a well-written conclusion.

Oftentimes, students will apply to Archbishop Carroll's engineering program because they have completed STEM projects through workshops or camps and are excited about how fun it was and now believe that they want to continue in engineering. Unfortunately and all too often, because the camp project was exploratory and not part of a rigorous curriculum that expects students to master the mathematics and science requirements for completion, students are often disappointed, frustrated, and disillusioned once they start studying engineering in school because it is a great deal more difficult and rigorous than they thought based on their limited exposure.

So it is not enough to simply expose them to concepts—they must apply those concepts in a way that demonstrates that they have truly gained knowledge and can apply it to future lessons. Our students will not be able to demonstrate mastery unless we, as engineering educators, make them go deeper.