Power Up: Creating Leaders for Community College and High School Technology/Engineering

The Power Up!: Creating Leaders for Community College & High School Technology/Engineering project is a professional development program for high school and community college educators.

Intellectual Merit: The project meets five critical needs:

1) The need to engage college students just starting engineering/technology programs with creative and realistic problem-solving activities;

2) The need for instructional programs at the high school level that lead students to consider pursuing technical studies at college; and

3) The need for high school and college faculties to work together to smooth the transition from high school to college.

In order to bring the benefits of the proposed program to a wider audience, 4) a cadre of teacher leaders is being developed and 5) the program is increasing awareness among high school guidance counselors, college faculty advisors, and parents about the importance of technology and engineering programs that are open and accessible to all students at the high school and college levels.

This project focuses on one area of engineering/technology education: energy and power technologies. At a national level, energy and power technologies are becoming increasingly important for society's continued development and growth. Engineers and technicians are needed to manage and maintain the current sources and grids while simultaneously alternative sources need to be explored for the future.

Power Up! is a collaboration between the Museum of Science, Boston; four community colleges in Massachusetts: Bunker Hill Community College, North Shore Community College, Quinsigamond Community College, and Springfield Technical College; three industry partners: Keyspan Energy, Northern Power, and The Engineering Center; eight school districts; and the Department of Education Tech Prep Network.

Broader Impacts: The project is developing, pilot-testing, and refining a systemic model for how high schools, community college, and industry partners can collaborate to develop new technology/engineering programs and pathways for students that can be disseminated nationwide. The project also fosters the creation of articulated pathways to enhance curriculum for sequences through high school, community colleges, and beyond in the field of engineering and technology. Finally the Power Up! content courses for high school and community colleges and instructional units that revolve around energy, power engineering and technology and the active, project-based learning and materials for counselor and public workshops are available for use across the state and nation.