CEHD News

The College of  Education and Human Development (CEHD) was host to Jefferson County School’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) in June. The program is open to all JCPS students and it provides them the opportunity to learn and explore through the use of technology and to raise their levels of achievement.

During the two day camp, teachers and students created stories by using PhotoStory 3 and learned basic engineering by building and programming robots. The students also created podcasts to showcase their work not only to their schools but the rest of the world as well. One of the teachers commented that they have learned more from the student’s by just allowing them to use their own skills to problem solve and complete the projects.

The camp was divided into four sessions, with both elementary and middle school students representing thirty-two different schools. Teachers worked with student groups as a team and each takes their experience back to the classroom. At school, students and teachers both train other students and teachers. Teachers also post their project progress within their schools on the STLP website.

“Students are responsible for teaching other students in their class what they learned during the camp. The experience teaches them about taking initiative and being leaders in their building,” said Pat Meurer, STLP coordinator with JCPS.

The students also get a chance to spend some time on a college campus and meet some of the faculty and college students. This part of the program helps students realize college is more than just basketball and that it is not so intimidating. They begin to think of college as a real and tangible opportunity.

The students were all deeply engaged in their work and clearly enjoyed the two days on campus. “It is a good experience for any student who wants to be an engineer,” stated Kimberly.

“It was really fun getting to experiment with robots and it was educational to. We got to learn about the software which operates the robot and which made learning even easier,” stated Malia.

“Working with robots that we could program helped me to learn more patience. You have to learn how to be a problem solver if it doesn’t work the way you want it to,” said Aubrey.

Another opportunity for students to come to UofL will be November 24, 2009 for the STLP Showcase. Schools will bring projects to the Showcase and compete to be invited to the state championship in May. Other public colleges around the state will host schools from their local districts for this event. Students will compete in three categories: showcase projects, engineering and presentation.

To learn more about STLP, go to http://tli.jefferson.k12.ky.us/stlp/welcome.html.