Based at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, LL EduCATE (Lincoln Laboratory Courses for Accessible, Technical Education) develops publicly available and accessible STEM lessons for middle and high school students. Lincoln Laboratory staff members draw upon real-world projects to connect abstract engineering ideas to concrete projects and experiments.
LL EduCATE ran pilot programs at Stoneham Middle and High School to gauge the viability of their lesson plans and to solicit feedback from both students and educators. The feedback gave EduCATE instructors an opportunity to refine their course content and to learn how the LL EduCATE curriculum – in whole or in part – can be integrated into existing curricula at Stoneham and other schools.
After positive feedback from the teachers and students at Stoneham, LL EduCATE is looking for opportunities to continue the relationship with the school. We hope to run the course in the future and align it with formal education standards to make it more easily usable for remote classroom adaptation.
After receiving a grant to offset kit costs from the MIT Community Service Fund, LL EduCATE focused its first lessons for an audience of middle and high school students who are exploring a future in engineering. The lesson, “Introduction to Engineering Concepts,” introduces students to core STEM skills that are helpful across many engineering disciplines. LL EduCATE’s programs provide an opportunity to build these skills and become familiar with the engineering and research development process. The lessons are geared towards students with limited exposure to engineering opportunities and who might otherwise not have the chance to learn about the many ways engineering applies to their lives.
Courses are now open to the public on Edly so that students or educators can run the content at school or in the comfort of their own homes.
Learn more about LL EduCATE and its courses here.
