Shakopee Students Get Real-World Experience in Class

Decades ago schools taught the basics: reading, writing and arithmetic.  Now, students in the Shakopee School District are creating automated compost bins and designing off road wheel chairs. It’s all part of a new focus on math and science in the classroom called Project Lead the Way. 

“This country needs more innovative people,” Junior High Technology Education Teacher T.J. Hendrickson said. “We need creative people that take their ideas from paper to reality and this class is really showing kids how to do that.”

This national program encourages student’s creativity through a series of classes like robotics, principles of engineering, flight and space, and green architecture. The school even offers a summer camp where students build and launch small rockets.

All of the classes involve hi-tech computer software, the same kind that is being used in the real world. Students come up with ideas, use the computer to create models, and then actually build it and test it.  

“I am blown away by the ideas kids have come up with,” Hendrickson said who was recently named Minnesota State Technology Education Teacher of the Year. “In these classes we don’t stifle creativity, in fact I tell my students there is no idea that can’t be done.”

Because of that environment Hendrickson has watched many students bring an idea to life. “A student actually designed a car seat that would keep a baby safer if it was in an accident,” he described. “The seat has a protective barrier. It’s really an amazing idea.”

These creative classes are optional, but they have caught student’s attention. Six years ago when the program started in the district about 40 students enrolled. Next year Hendrickson predicts about 1500 students will take at least one of the classes. About 90 percent of students that take one class will take another.

“I have kids at the lab at 5:30 in the morning asking to work on their project,” Hendrickson said. “When was the last time you heard of that happening?”

The high school is experiencing a similar frenzy. “This is real-world experience,” High School Technology Education Teacher Brad Thorpe said. “It’s something that is not offered in every classroom and I think that is why so many kids gravitate towards it.”

Shakopee is one of 4,200 schools across the U.S. that offers Project Lead the Way curriculum, according to its website. Nationwide, there are more than 400,000 students enrolled in the classes this year.