5TH GRADE TEACHERS LAUNCH CATAPULTS (AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION).

Washington STEM and Washington MESA launched the Engineering Fellows program to increase engineering education efforts throughout the state focusing on King County and the Yakima Valley. Engineering Fellows is a highly competitive program that brings engineering expertise directly into fifth grade classrooms around the state. Thirty fifth grade teachers from the Yakima Valley and King County are collaborating with professional engineers and college/graduate engineering students to design and implement engineering design challenges that are integrated with their local curriculum.

We’ve put together a Storify that details what happened during the Engineering Fellows intensive training week last week. Take a look! Over the next three years, Washington STEM and Washington MESA plan to expand the program to ensure that almost 200 fifth grade teachers are equipped, empowered, and well-supported to engage students in engineering design challenges based on real-world problems. Want to know more? Visit www.washingtonstem.org/engineering.