Clear Lake Schools is leader in transforming the learning process

by Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake School District has embraced the concept that students learn best by doing and last week the district celebrated the roll-out of Project Lead The Way (PLTW) curriculum now being used in all district buildings.

About 50 persons attended a program to learn more about how the transformative learning experience is being used in kindergarten through high school.

PLTW utitilizes an APB (Activity, Projects, Problem) approach.  Students participate in an activity to help them acquire knowledge and skill, then use them in a project and eventually apply and transfer those skills to solve a problem.

“We have to look at how kids learn and we can’t continuously do things the way they have been done for the last 20 to 30 years,” said Clear Lake Superintendent Doug Gee.  “We want kids to love the school experience and want to come to school.  It’s our job.  We can’t control their home life and parents, but we can control their experience here and we want it to be engaging and exciting.”

Terry Ausman, director of school engagement in Iowa and Nebraska for PLTW, was on hand for the local event.

“PLTW helps kids figure out if they are STEM thinkers, helps them work together, collaborate and develop higher thinking skills which they can then take out into the community,” said Ausman.  “We are not teaching kids to do a job, we are teaching them to be thinkers.”

Emily Hill and Kristin Ebeling, from the Clear Lake School District, completed lead teacher training in 2017 and facilitated the PLTW launch

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in Clear Lake elementary schools in the fall of 2018.  Thanks to their leadership, Clear Lake is now one of the first school districts in the country to have preschool students involved in PLTW.

PLTW is based on three curricular pathways: biomedical science, computer science and engineering.

All PLTW programs give students opportunities to learn and apply problem-solving strategies, critical and creative thinking and communication and collaboration skills.  For example, at the Pre-K to fifth grade level (PLTW Launch), biomedical science units would include study of healthy habits at the pre-K level, all the way up to a closer look at the human brain at fourth grade and infection detection at fifth grade.  Middle schoolers (PLTW Gateway) would participate in activities that would make them “medical detectives,” while high school students would be learning the principles of biomedical science, human body systems, medical interventions  and biomedical innovation.

“We think we are transforming education,” added Ausman.

“The benefits of PLTW are that students guide their own learning,” explained Hill and Ebeling.  “Students are applying the 4Cs— critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication.  There is increased teacher collaboration, community connections and partnerships, and students develop a growth mindset and are learning from the future.”

Gee said he has seen increased student engagement as a result of using the PLTW.

“You see kids hands-on working to be successful.  That’s life.  After learning this way, they want to continue to learn, not just be lectured.  This is the way kids learn best.”

Kindergarten teacher Amy Wagler said in addition to learning concepts, social skills are also being taught through social interaction.  “The kids also find areas where they shine that they would not have found.”

Teacher Melanie Marrell agreed.  “They are learning employability skills and getting along with others as they are working to achieve a common goal.”

“The staff has embraced this new way of teaching— engagement, collaboration, trial and error and experience,” added Gee.  “Teachers get excited when they see kids engaged in learning and that, combined with the kids’ interest, is beneficial to all.”

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