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Must I follow the PLTW course and pedagogy or may I make adjustments?
PLTW establishes the content and pedagogy to meet its high standards in
whatever school or in whatever state these courses are taught. If PLTW
fails to meet its standards, PLTW will change the content through
teacher involvement; after program updates, the content and/or pedagogy
may be modified to reflect updates.
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How may I become involved in teaching PLTW courses?
Become knowledgeable of the PLTW program, standards, requirements, and
experience by reviewing this website. Contact your principal to express
your interest in introducing PLTW courses to your district; inform your
principal that s/he may request free materials/DVD on the program by
going to Contacting PLTW/Information Requests. Once that occurs, other
opportunities may become available, such as, visiting schools in the
PLTW network or attending informational meetings if scheduled in your
area.
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How many PLTW courses may I teach?
There are six courses presently (more are being added) for grades 9 -
12; the Middle School program may be taught in one year or may be spread
through a unit approach through grades 6 - 8. Normally, a teacher
would attend a two-week training program and teach that course in
September; it is possible to learn two courses in the summer and teach
them in September. Experience has shown that enrollment in PLTW courses
expands rapidly. Depending on the size of your school, it is possible
for you to be teaching one or two courses in the school year, such as
Principles of Engineering and Introduction to Engineering Design, the
entry level courses
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What credit may I receive toward my Masters in Technology?
The simple answer is it would depend on where you are pursuing the
degree. For example, Rochester Institute of Technology teaches PLTW
courses in the summer; they view the challenging courses differently
from a college which is unaware of PLTW. PLTW, however, is actively
introducing many institutions to the courses and programs in hopes that
more doors will open to you.
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What new PLTW courses will be introduced in the next year
or two?
PLTW will introduce two new courses: Biotechnical Engineering and
Aerospace Engineering.
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What teaching resources does PLTW provide to all PLTW teachers?
Four new documents have been developed for your use; all of them may be
downloaded from the Teacher Log-in section of the website. The four are
(1) Effective Teaching Strategies;
(2) How to Use the PLTW Curriculum;
(3) Assessment Handbook which focuses on writing course assessments;
(4) Activities - Project - Problem - Based Learning: A Modality of
Teaching and Learning presents a comprehensive overview of the levels of
learning modalities in its curriculum.
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How may I get fast answers to my questions once I begin
teaching a PLTW course?
All PLTW teachers become members of an online Listserv. Anytime you have
a question, go to the website, type in your question, and receive an
answer from other teachers and/or from PLTW’s Director of Technology.
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Where may I receive answers to students’ questions about a future in
engineering?
Encourage students to visit PLTW’s Links on the website. There are
nearly 40 links on engineering for a General Audience, For Educators,
For Girls/Women, and For Minorities. They introduce students to a
variety of careers in engineering, to professional engineering
organizations, to summer programs and contests, to audio interviews of
engineers, and much more for research topics and personal interest.
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