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EDUCATION Engineering, tech programs offered at Medford schools District invests about $300,000 in new STEM curriculum and equipment Comment By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 19, 2015 at 3:09 PM Updated Aug 19, 2015 at 3:45 PM By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 19, 2015 at 3:09 PM Updated Aug 19, 2015 at 3:45 PM » Social News A new program offered by the Medford School District will prepare students at Hedrick and McLoughlin middle schools and Central Medford High School for careers in engineering and other technical fields. Project Lead the Way will be offered as an elective at all three schools starting this fall. It takes a project-based approach to learning science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). For example, students will have the opportunity to design their own playground on a laptop and create a model of it using the schools’ new 3-D printers. The district invested about $300,000 in specialized computers and 3-D printers and in training teachers to implement the curriculum. Middle school students will learn design, modeling, automation and robotics while high school students will receive an introduction to engineering by applying algebra, geometry and science concepts to problem-based projects, said Julimarie Thomas, who teaches at Central Medford. She was one of the four Medford teachers who attended the Project Lead the Way training this summer in Norfolk, Va. “Hopefully, it will be what makes them want to come to school,” Thomas said, adding that the skills the students learn in the classes also may open up "cutting-edge" job opportunities for them in the future. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that STEM jobs make up more than 10 percent of the country’s jobs and promise wages that are nearly twice the national average. In July, a Forbes Magazine article noted that students graduating with degrees in computer science, engineering, mathematics and statistics received the largest starting salaries immediately after college. “We’re trying to increase the students’ opportunities to get high-tech, high-wage jobs after graduation and to increase students’ opportunities for critical thinking and hands-on experience,” said Michelle Zundel, the district’s newly appointed chief academic officer. Superintendent Brian Shumate recommended the program after seeing it implemented at one of the high schools in the Jefferson County Public Schools system in Louisville, Ky., where he previously worked as an educator and administrator. “What I like about it is that, in my experience, it really makes the classroom relevant for students who are really into engineering, design and manufacturing,” Shumate said. “It gets their heads around concepts and gets them thinking about how to build things and get it done. It fuses the academic component into technical skills and vice versa.” The district plans to implement the engineering program at North and South Medford high schools in 2016 and its biomedical technology program sometime afterward. In the meantime, the district will pilot the engineering program at Central Medford — the district's alternative high school — and expand the technical offerings at both middle schools. “Engineering isn’t just for people building bridges,” Thomas said. “It’s for everything you see — a cup, the wheels on a skateboard, the spokes on a bike wheel ... all of these have been engineered. It’s not something just for rocket scientists.” Reach education reporter Teresa Thomas at 541-776-4497 or [email protected] . Follow her at www.twitter.com/teresathomas_mt . By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Teresa Thomas Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 19, 2015 at 3:09 PM Updated Aug 19, 2015 at 3:45 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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