Montville Science Teacher And Husband Initiate STEM Workshop

Science teacher, Kathy Ernst, of Robert R. Lazar Middle School, in Montville, New Jersey, and her husband, Professional Engineer, Michael Ernst, share a vision for science and engineering. Respectively the two are former presidents of New Jersey Science Teachers Association (NJSTA), and the Union Chapter of the NJ Professional Engineer’s Society. Together they put into action their shared vision and launched a program that incorporates Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to enhance STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, instruction in New Jersey.

On the evening of Tuesday, January 12, 2016, twenty-six middle school and high school science teachers, and six volunteer engineers, assembled at the College of St. Elizabeth to bring the Ernsts’ dream to fruition. The engineer volunteers, from the New Jersey Society of Professional Engineers (NJSPE), acted as mentors and brainstormed with science teachers to create exciting and relevant lessons for students. The workshop was the first in a series planned throughout the state by NJSTA to bring engineers together with teachers to convey engineering problem solving and analysis skills to their students.

“Science teachers are asked to teach engineering even though 99% of them have never had formal engineering training,” explained Kathy Ernst.

The workshop consisted of a brief video and lecture by Michael Ernst. After the lecture Kathy Ernst, started a brainstorming session with preliminary lesson plans the teachers brought with them. The engineers arrived after work and joined small groups of teachers to further brainstorm, critique, and develop lesson plans, classroom demonstrations and experiments to bring excitement to the classroom.

“The lesson plans are still a work in progress but both the teachers and the volunteers thought the evening was valuable and were very positive in their feedback,” Kathy Ernst added.

NJSTA is planning a reprise of this session for their Spring Meeting at The College of New Jersey on May 11, 2016. A session for teachers in the Southern Region of the state is also being planned for a later date at Rowan University. Workshop details will be posted on the NJSTA website as they become available. Engineer volunteers can also sign up for these or future workshops on the NJSTA website.