Teaching
The PLTW teachers tried to rely on quality pedagogy to
help them be more comfortable with the curriculum. In
eleven of the twelve classroom observations, the teachers
employed a student-centered approach to teaching including
student presentations, designing a Rube Goldberg
machine, building dragsters, designing dragsters with 3-D
modeling software, small group discussions of readings,
and measurement activities. The teachers were not focused
on lecturing, but on having students work together and
develop their own ideas.
However, at times not knowing what direction students
would go in the lessons made teachers less comfortable and
confident in their knowledge. Teachers had difficulties
knowing how long lessons would last and knowing how to
best guide students in their work. Three of the four teachers
mentioned this several times throughout the year. In one
activity, students dissemble a device and look for the six
simple machines in the device. Then students are asked to
create a new mechanical device that represents a simple
machine from the dissembled pieces. Since students
brought in their own devices, it made it difficult for the
teachers to be familiar with what each device consisted of
in order to help students struggling to find simple machines
as they took apart their device.