ENGAGING YOUTH IN ENGINEERING (EYE)

There’s a new initiative under development in the Mobile area and - in case you haven’t heard - it’s called ENGAGING YOUTH IN ENGINEERING (EYE).   EYE is a workforce and economic development initiative to bring relevance to the K-12 mathematics and science curriculum and to inspire, engage, and prepare elementary and middle school students to take the coursework needed to support the growing demand for highly skilled and technology-savvy workers for the aerospace, shipbuilding and other industries locating in the Mobile area.  The EYE Initiative is not just about producing engineers.  Rather EYE uses the engaging work that engineers do as a “hook” for students since engineers apply mathematics and science to solve relevant problems and produce the technology and products needed in the world today. 

The EYE is a collaborative endeavor spearheaded by the Mobile Area Education Foundation in partnership with the J. L. Bedsole Foundation, the Mobile County Public School System, the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, and the University of South Alabama.  The EYE planning team, comprised of MCPSS district level staff, principals and teachers, as well as engineers, mathematicians and industry representatives, has met regularly since October 2006 to design the Initiative.  Following the MAEF’s mantra – “start small, think big” – the planning team decided to begin the EYE in the schools that feed to Mobile County’s only engineering academy which is housed at Davidson High School.  Burns and Denton are the two middle schools that primarily send students to Davidson; the six elementary schools that send students to those middle schools are E. R. Dickson, Dodge, Fonde, Griggs, Kate Shepard, and Meadowlake.  Once the initiative is piloted and refined in the Davidson feeder pattern, then other feeder patterns will be identified for further implementation of EYE.

EYE is using curriculum from Boston’s Museum of Science for its K-5 EYE Clubs and summer camps (Engineering is Elementary) and for the new state-approved Engineering the Future physical science course at the high school level.  At the middle school level, the planning team is designing its own engineering mini-units and has contracted with Dr. Suzanne McGill, former head of the mathematics department at the University of South Alabama, to develop the units.  Each middle school is also implementing a career-awareness and technology literacy course for eighth graders that includes state-of-the art equipment and computer-driven modules.  In addition the middle schools are offering a robotics elective course.

A critical component of EYE is the involvement of business and industry volunteers, as well as engineering students from the University of South Alabama, both to assist teachers as they implement the engineering curriculum and mini-units and to mentor students.  Research is clear that the likelihood of a student choosing to be an engineer is greatly enhanced when there is an engineer in the immediate family or when the student has had exposure to engineers as mentors. (View Friends of EYE)

On October 18, 2007, Dr. Ioannis (pronounced Yannis) Miaoulis, President and Director of Boston's Museum of Science and the National Center for Technology Literacy, was in town for a day of activities sponsored by The Forum, to formally launch the Engaging Youth in Engineering initiative. For more information on the EYE initiative please contact Dr. Susan Pruet (pruetsa@mindspring.com), program director at the Mobile Area Education Foundation or Dr. Carolyn L. Taylor, Assistant Superintendent, Mobile County Public School System.

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