SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon
Company (NYSE: RTN) has funded a $37,000 grant to help teach engineering concepts
and practices to elementary school students in San Antonio, Texas. The grant to the San
Antonio Independent School District is part of a larger
$2 million Raytheon initiative,
launched in 2011, to help improve STEM education nationwide by
expanding the use of Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®), an
award-winning curriculum developed at the Museum of Science,
Boston through its National Center
for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®).
"Raytheon's generous support greatly expands our mission to
bring engineering to elementary-aged children," said Museum of
Science president and director Ioannis
Miaoulis, who created the NCTL to introduce engineering in
schools and museums nationwide.
The Raytheon-Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®) grant funds
professional development for a group of 25 teachers from the
district, who will attend a workshop that prepares them to use EiE
with their students. San Antonio
is one of four districts this year and among a total of 17 schools
and districts since 2013 to receive one of these Raytheon
awards.
The workshop for San Antonio
teachers will take place Nov. 17,
2015; in addition to the training, each teacher will also
receive an EiE curriculum guide and a materials kit with everything
needed to implement engineering activities in the classroom.
Finally, as part of the grant's "train the trainer" model, a
district educator will attend an EiE Teacher Educator Institute,
acquiring the skills and knowledge to facilitate more workshops for
district teachers.
"The professional development opportunity afforded to our
district by Raytheon and the Museum of Science, Boston will ensure that teachers are well
prepared to develop our students' ability to collaborate, create,
innovate and problem-solve as they begin to discover engineering
design and biomedical engineering," says Becky Landa, the director of science and
curriculum management departments for SAISD. "As a large urban
school district, we understand the importance of providing our
teachers with challenging instructional resources to engage and
inspire our students to pursue and achieve success in STEM career
fields. An early pathway to increase STEM literacy is
critical and involves not only our schools, but our communities and
business partners working together with a shared commitment to make
STEM education accessible to all students."
"Our nation's competitiveness and economic growth depend on
development of technical talent, and teachers are vital to this
effort," said Jack Harrington, vice
president of Cybersecurity and Special Missions at Raytheon
Intelligence, Information and Services. "As part of the
San Antonio community, Raytheon is
personally invested in inspiring the area's next generation of
innovators, and this grant helps strengthen teachers' ability to
encourage students to pursue careers in math and science."
To date, EiE has reached more than 9 million children across the
country, engaging students as young as six with hands-on,
inquiry-based activities. The curriculum explores a variety of
engineering fields – from electrical to mechanical to biomedical
and more – and each activity is tied to a science concept commonly
taught in elementary schools. Research shows EiE helps elementary
students become more interested in engineering as a career, and
also improves their learning of science concepts.
"With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards in
2013, there's a new expectation that engineering will be integrated
with existing elementary science curricula – and schools and
districts need an effective way to do that," said Dr. Christine Cunningham, a vice president at the
Museum and EiE founder and director. "We're really pleased to be
able to offer support through the Raytheon scholarship
program."
Headquartered in Massachusetts,
Raytheon also has offices in the San
Antonio area. In addition to San
Antonio, two other Texas School Districts, McKinney Public Schools and Garland
Independent School District, have received Raytheon grants.
"Garland already promotes student-centered active inquiry to
enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills," says
Tina Garrett, an elementary science
coordinator for the district. "Raytheon's generosity has
enabled us the opportunity to embed engineering practices at all
levels of elementary science."
About Engineering is Elementary
- EiE is a project of the Museum of Science, Boston, developed with support from the
National Science Foundation.
- The EiE curriculum includes 20 units that integrate science
topics with a specific field of engineering.
- Through the use of storybooks, EiE introduces students to
children from different cultures and backgrounds who are trying to
solve engineering problems.
- EiE students as young as six years old conduct their own
experiments to collect the data needed to solve a similar problem
using a five-step engineering design process.
About the Museum of Science, Boston
The Museum of Science,
Boston is the nation's first
science museum with a comprehensive strategy and infrastructure to
foster technological literacy in science museums and schools across
the United States. Having reached
an estimated 9.4 million students and 99,700 teachers, its National
Center for Technological Literacy® also received the National
Science Board's Public Service Award in May
2015. One of the world's largest science centers and
Boston's most attended cultural
institution, the Museum of Science introduces about 1.4 million
visitors a year to science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) via dynamic programs and hundreds of interactive exhibits.
Founded in 1830, the Museum was first to embrace all the sciences
under one roof. Highlights include the Hall of Human Life, Thomson
Theater of Electricity, Charles Hayden Planetarium, Mugar Omni
Theater, Gordon Current Science & Technology Center, 4-D
Theater, and Butterfly Garden. The Museum also leads a 10-year,
$41 million National Science
Foundation-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network of
science museums. Visit: http://www.mos.org.
About MathMovesU
Raytheon's MathMovesU®
program is an initiative committed to increasing middle and
elementary school students' interest in math and science education
by engaging them in hands-on, interactive activities. The
innovative programs of MathMovesU include the traveling interactive
experience MathAlive!®; Raytheon's Sum of all
Thrills™ experience at INNOVENTIONS at
Epcot®, which showcases math in action as
students design and experience their own thrill ride using math
fundamentals; the "In the Numbers" game, a partnership with the New
England Patriots on display at The Hall at Patriot Place presented
by Raytheon; the company's ongoing sponsorship of the
MATHCOUNTS® National Competition; and the MathMovesU
scholarship and grant program. Follow MathMovesU and other Raytheon
community outreach programs on Facebook and on Twitter
@MathMovesU.
About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of
$23 billion and 61,000 employees
worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in
defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets
throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 93
years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission
systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing;
effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence
systems, as well as cybersecurity and a broad range of mission
support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon,
visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on
Twitter @Raytheon.
Media Contacts
Raytheon
Jo-Anne Sears
+1.571.250.1914
iispr@raytheon.com
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SOURCE Raytheon Company