September 2007 University of Illinois Hosts 2007 Teacher Summer Training Institutes

The University of Illinois Affiliate Project Lead the Way program hosted five Illinois Project Lead the Way teacher Summer Training Institute (STI) sessions during July and August 2007 on the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses.

Five PLTW foundation course training institutes involved 63 teachers from Illinois and other Midwestern states as “students” in the two-week intensive sessions, each of which took high school faculty members through the year-long curriculum for Introduction to Engineering Design (IED), Principles of Engineering (POE), Digital Electronics (DE), and Biotechnical Engineering (BE).

The UIUC campus hosted eight teachers for the DE course taught by PTLW Master Teachers Jim Brizzard (Vermont) and Bob Bloompott (Illinois Central College),  19 teachers for the IED course taught by Master Teacher Andy Zaffarano (New York) and Richard Keane (UIUC College of Engineering), and 5 teachers for the BE course taught by Master Teacher Lynne Williams (Colorado).  The UIC campus hosted 19 teachers for the IED course taught by Master Teacher Bob Hays (Indiana) and Wally Goncharoff (UIC College of Engineering), and 12 teachers for the POE course taught by Master Teachers Eric Brewer (New York) and Claude Charron (Florida).

Instructors in participating Illinois PLTW schools are required to attend Affiliate-sponsored summer training institutes prior to teaching PLTW courses at the local level. A total of 69 Illinois teachers from 49 Illinois schools attended STI sessions in Illinois or other states.

The University is making plans to offer at least Summer Training Institute sessions in 2008, adding Gateway to Technology courses to its BE, DE, IED, and POE sessions.  For further information about Project Lead the Way STI and other teacher professional development activities, contact University of Illinois Affiliate Director Brenda Pacey at bpacey@uillinios.edu or 217/244-5217.

To see photos of the 2007 Summer Training Institutes, click here