Learning by teaching

Sometimes, students learn the most when they teach. That’s the principle behind the student teaching experience all Pittsburg State University education majors receive. It is also the principle behind the “Wonders of Transportation” expo that students in PSU’s Technology Education program developed for kindergarten and first-grade students in Carl Junction, Mo., this spring.

For one day, the gymnasium at Carl Junction Elementary School was filled with a dizzying array of hands-on activities, all designed to teach youngsters about the technology involved in transportation. The expo consisted of six stations, each manned by PSU students. The youngsters spent 15 minutes at each station, rotating to the next at the sound of a bell.

At the center of the gym, an aluminum and plastic geodesic dome rose high above the activities. Periodically, a vehicle made up of two golf carts fashioned to look like a monorail would pass through the dome, carrying a load of excited children.

At the various stations, children raced boats in a canal, learned about space travel, tried their skills at an automated construction set, rode bicycles and got the inside story on what makes airplanes fly.

According to Mike Neden, a member of the faculty in the Department of Technology Studies, this capstone project provides valuable experience for PSU students and allows them to demonstrate how to incorporate technology into the classroom.

“This gives our students the opportunity to work with real teachers and students in real classroom situations,” Neden said.

This was the fifth year for the collaboration between PSU technology education students and Carl Junction Elementary School and each year the theme has been different. Neden said the project begins with a meeting between the PSU students and the classroom teachers. State standards are the guiding force and from those, a plan for the expo emerges. Classroom teachers then prepare lesson plans that lead up to the expo.

The classroom teachers say they appreciate the hands-on approach to learning that the expo provides.

“It sticks with them,” said principal Cheryl Costley.

---Pitt State---