Project Lead the Way
interested in engineering?
Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is a national program that is training students to be the engineers of tomorrow. It has a rigorous curriculum that is hands-on and based on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) principals that let students experience what it might be like to be an engineer.
T.H. Bell is a PLTW School with the Gateway curriculum which is currently in the 8th grade. In this curriculum, at this school, there are two options of study.
3D Modeling - Which focuses on design and 3D modeling and uses the program Inventor (students will also build their designs in the shop and gather data from the design)
Robotics - Students study and build analog and digital circuits, and learn about mechanical devices and gears as well as program and build robots.
Talk to your counselor for more information
Students that want to go on in the engineering field can apply to be accepted into PLTW at the high school level. This is done in the Spring of the year. Colleges and Universities know that students coming out of PLTW schools have been pre-trained as engineers and this gives these students an edge into entrance in their engineering programs.
Students that are accepted take their first 2 periods at the Weber Innovation Center (WIC) in the morning and built into the schedule is time for travel. There is bus transportation to take the PLTW student to WIC and back to T.H. Bell Jr. High, where students in PLTW continue the day by taking their core classes at our school. 9th graders are able to take Introduction to Engineering Design, with other options available later in high school.
To explore what these classes are more fully enter the WIC PLTW webpage.