Hawthorne Press Tribune The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - September 22, 2016 Sailor Serves Aboard USS John C. Stennis Airman Jalyn Robertson, from California, operates an aircraft elevator aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) as Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 flies off the ship for the last time at the end of a 7-month deployment. Providing a combat-ready force to protect collective maritime interests, John C. Stennis is on a regularly scheduled Western Pacific deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Andre T. Richard. Zela Davis Students Continue to Thrive Through Project Lead The Way By Cristian Vasquez When Zela Davis Elementary School launched its Science, Technology, Engineering and Math [STEM] program six years ago, the campus had 15 iPads and a staff filled with the ambition. Today, through partnerships with El Camino College, Chevron and Project Lead The Way, Zela Davis has been able to add to its curriculum and expand its STEM education from three classes to 52 classrooms, spread out from Kindergarten to 5th grade. “El Camino provided the training for the teachers for free, they trained the lead teacher [Jen Franklin] and they trained the rest of the staff,” said Zela Davis Principal Kathy Carbajal. “Chevron provided the funds needed to purchase all materials needed for the program.” Principal Carbajal’s presentation to the school board during it recent Sept. 14 meeting showcased a YouTube where teachers and students spoke of their experience with PLTW. While students shared their eagerness to use STEM skills via the programs provided by PLTW, teachers highlighted the increase in student academic performance, confidence and problem-solving abilities. “Project Lead The Way to me means opportunity and allowing students to have the opportunity to collaborate, to problem solve, to think like an engineer,” STEM Intervention Teacher Jen Franklin shared in the video. “They [students] are problem solving and learning without even knowing that they are learning. Their ability to communicate is really impacted because they have to explain their thinking and they have to use logic in order to explain and in order to problem solve.” PLTW engages students from Kindergarten to high school in hands-on activities, projects and direct problem-solving programs that are tailored to reflect challenges outside of the classroom. Programs offered through PLTW include PLTW Launch at the K-5 level, PLTW Gateway 6th-8th grade and PLTW Computer Science, Engineering and Biomedical Science 9th-12th grades. “We quickly realized that it was much more important to create hands-on science and engineering activities for our students, and to have the technology as a resource to be able to have those types of activities and lessons in their classrooms,” Principal Carbajal said. “That’s when Project Lead The Way came in.” Each program is designed for teachers to help students develop their critical thinking skills and problem solving abilities, which is a departure from older curriculum practices where students relied more on memorization and validation of answers from teachers. “I remember when I first started teaching science, it was all about showing them [students] everything and they just watched the fun experiment that I am doing,” 5th grade teacher Megan Casey said in the video. “With Project Lead The Way the students get to be involved hands on, and they get to use the materials, and they get to develop problem-solving skills and their critical thinking skills. As a teacher, my goals is help my students make the world a better place, so when they get to have the hands on experience and they get to develop their critical thinking skills, is so wonderful to see.” The impact of PLTW expands beyond science classes and continues to create enthusiasm among students. “The kids want to be part of the program; they get excited when they hear Project Lead The Way,” Franklin said. “I think that is really important; just the enthusiasm overall. Plus, when you have kindergarteners that are coding, that’s phenomenal, up to fifth grade where they are doing robotics and animation.” Science and math aren’t the only academic areas that kids in PLTW are succeeding. “All that is now carrying into language arts; the students are writing and reading, they’re doing research and they’re citing,” Principal Carbajal said. “It is so amazing to see the students so engaged.” Since PLTW’s pathways are established to follow through from grade level to grade level, Zela Davis students are able to move onto Bud Carson Middle School where they will continue with the same STEM education that they were provided at the elementary school level. “That continuation is very important because one of the reasons we started this program is because there is a deficit in our country; there are more positions out there than there are kids coming out of college with these expertise,” Principal Carbajal said. “So for us it is really important and it can’t stop in fifth grade; it is very important to be excited about it early on.” • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................4 Classifieds............................3 Food.......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................2, 6-7 Looking Up...........................7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 75˚/63˚ Saturday Sunny 82˚/66˚ Sunday Sunny 84˚/68˚ “Project Lead The Way to me means opportunity and allowing students to have the opportunity to collaborate, to problem solve, to think like an engineer.”
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