Sure, teenagers love listening to their favorite music on iPods and snapping pictures of their friends with camera phones, but do they know who made those gadgets possible? Most aren’t aware that engineers are behind these cool technologies. To help youngsters understand how engineers affect the world they live in, the IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB) has been working on a program aimed at familiarizing preuniversity students with basic engineering concepts.

The driving force behind the project is the IEEE Center for Pre-University Engineering Education, an outreach organization that encourages students to study engineering in college. It is hoped that the center, set up and directed by the EAB, will be of use to educators, engineering associations, and industry. The center was funded last year by a US $98 000 grant from the IEEE Board of Directors.

“The ultimate objective is to reach several tens of thousands of young people every year—students who will read our materials and use our Web sites for information,” says Moshe Kam, IEEE Vice President, Educational Activities. “We want to provide this audience with a new, fresh, and exciting introduction to engineering and give them the resources they need to make informed decisions about engineering as a career.”

The center is working on two projects:

• Expanding the EAB’s existing Teacher In-Service Program, which offers professional development workshops on various subjects that include technical topics.

• Developing a fun and informative Web site for school counselors, students, teachers, and parents that links to a searchable database of engineering information.

TEACHER IN-SERVICE PROGRAM Preuniversity teachers would be taught a hands-on activity related to a technical subject—on such topics as the basics of motors, switches, and simple machines—during in-service days. IEEE volunteers would help the teachers work their way through an activity. The idea is for the teachers to return to their schools and lead the same activity in their classrooms. (For more on the Teacher In-Service Program, see “Teaching Teachers Technology,” The Institute, March 2005, p. 11.)

The program has been going strong since 2001, beginning in Florida’s West Coast Section in Region 3 (the southeastern United States). IEEE volunteers have worked with more than 600 preuniversity teachers, who have had more than 63 000 students in their classes during the time.

In July more than 60 representatives from 23 IEEE sections in Region 3 received training on developing activities and learning how to form long-lasting collaborations with educators. The EAB wants to expand the program to all IEEE regions.

“We think that the Teacher In-Service Program offers a great way for IEEE members to impact their local school system through their volunteerism,” says Bill Marshall, chair of the Atlanta Section. “Everyone who attended the July session was extremely supportive of the program and looked forward to participating in it.”

The EAB has set a goal for the volunteer trainers to collaborate with approximately 1000 educators by the end of 2006, and it is planning training sessions in the northeastern and central United States as well as in Asia, the Pacific, and South Africa.

ENGINEERING WEB SITE The effort to develop a Web site came out of a meeting in February 2005, led by the IEEE. At the meeting were the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American School Counselor Association, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). The groups met to discuss how engineering associations could do a better job of providing counselors with information about engineering careers. The meeting made the IEEE representatives aware that school counselors not only are inadequately informed about engineering but that they also needed a resource to provide them with information on university programs and careers.

To help fill that need, the IEEE began working with IBM to develop a Web site dubbed “Try Engineering.” IBM had helped build a similar site called “Try Science” (http://www.tryscience.org), which will provide a link to the Try Engineering site. Now under construction, Try Engineering (http://www.tryengineering.org) is expected to be ready in June. Plans call for the site to provide general information on engineering and familiarize visitors with the profession and its various disciplines.

An IBM design team recently finished creating the Try Engineering logo and is working on a number of components such as a description of the life of an engineer, virtual games, and a feature that will allow visitors to ask an engineer a question. The questions and answers will be posted on a public forum blackboard for all visitors to see. Also in the works are lesson plans that teachers can download and use in the classroom.

“This Web site will offer some very valuable tools for people like me who aren’t extremely familiar with engineering,” says Malika Johnson, the assistant director of college counseling at the Bryn Mawr School, a college-preparatory institution for girls in Baltimore. As chair of the NACAC’s National Professional Development Committee, Johnson participated in a focus group that reviewed a prototype of the Try Engineering site. She says she liked what she saw.

“Other career guidance sites cover numerous topics, but this one will help school counselors learn about different engineering disciplines and engineering careers,” she says. “In turn, the counselors will be able to speak to their students about engineering and guide them on different careers.”

Especially helpful will be the site’s University Finder search engine, says Kam. By entering geographic criteria such as a state, province, or territory, visitors can use the tool to find universities with accredited engineering programs. Visitors can also search by engineering discipline. Initially the site will provide information relevant only to the United States and Canada, but data about engineering programs in other countries will be added by next year.

“The unique University Finder feature is one component that will make Try Engineering a valuable resource for the preuniversity education community,” says Kam.

Once IBM finishes the site, the IEEE plans to take over, maintaining it and developing additional content. The institute is working with other engineering associations to add information related to disciplines such as automotive, civil, and mechanical engineering. And the school counselor organizations say they will stay involved.

Says Bryn Mawr’s Johnson: “Since the Internet plays such a huge role in how children research information and communicate today, I think children will find the Web site convenient and easy to use.”

For more information on IEEE preuniversity activities, go to http://www.ieee.org/education