Power Up is a National Science Foundation ATE project

funded 2004 - 2007

Intellectual merit: The Power Up!: Creating Leaders for Community College & High School Technology/Engineering project is a professional and program development initiative for high school and community college educators. The project is a potential solution to meet five critical needs: 1) The need to engage college students just starting engineering programs with creative and realistic problem-solving activities; 2) The need for instructional programs at the high school level that will lead students to consider pursuing technical studies at college; and 3) The need for high school and college teachers 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, we will also need to: 4) create a cadre of leaders, including both high school and college teachers; and 5) increase awareness among high school guidance counselors, college faculty advisors, parents, and other stakeholders about the importance of technology and engineering programs for all students at the high school and college levels.

During this project, we focus on one area of engineering/technology—education about 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; thee community colleges in Massachusetts: Bunker Hill Community College, and North Shore Community College, Quinsigamond Community College; three industry partners: Keyspan Energy, Northern Power, and The Engineering Center; eight school districts; and the Department of Education Tech Prep Network.

To address the goal of creating leaders, the project focuses on developing Lead Teachers who then work with colleagues in their schools and colleges. Program activities include a leader content institute, school-year implementation, follow-up workshops, a technology educator summit, satellite content institutes, and counselor symposia, regional seminars, and articulation workshops.

Broader impacts: At the conclusion of the three-year project we plan to have developed, pilot-tested, and refined 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 will also have helped to foster 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 materials that Power Up! has developed will be available for use across the state and nation. These include content for high school and community college courses or units that revolve around energy and power engineering and technology and that involve active, project-based learning and materials that we have developed to run the counselor workshops.

TechBoston, Engineering Academy Project Hyde Park High School, Charlestown High School, Cambridge Rindge School of Technical Arts, , Bunker Hill Community College, Peabody High School, Salem High School, Gloucester High School, Northern Essex Community College, Worcester Vocational Technical High School, Blackstone Valley Regional Technical High School, Tantasqua High School, Quinsigamond Community College, Museum of Science, Keyspan, The Boston Society of Civil Engineers, American Association of Aerospace Engineers, The Engineering Center, and the Massachusetts Tech Prep Network