Project Lead The Way

From Dreamers to Engineers in the Making

An inspirational program, Project Lead the Way, was introduced at Malden Catholic as a unique full-year elective offering in 2018 - 2019. It intended to engage the boys and girls of the Class of 2022 in interdisciplinary courses in STEM. In the able hands of Malden Catholic’s STEM Director, Saman Abbas, who has a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, the program has flourished! This past year 78 students participated in one of three Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses now offered, taught by Mrs. Abbas and engineer colleague Mr. Gary Reardon.

Developed as a non-profit company to lead students toward more real-world skills and to promote STEM education, PLTW offers a host of courses available to students Pre-K through Grade 12: PLTW Launch (PreK-5); PLTW Gateway (Gr. 6-8); PLTW Computer Science (Gr. 9-12); PLTW Engineering (Gr. 9-12); and PLTW Biomedical Science (Gr. 9-12). Malden Catholic employs the engineering component and since 2018 has annually added a new course from the Engineering module, starting with “Introduction to Engineering Design,” then moving on to “Principles of Education,” and concluding with “Digital Electronics.” Each of the three, says Mrs. Abbas, “challenges students to master the engineering design process, that is, to identify a precise problem; to brainstorm multiple possible solutions; to build and test a successful prototype; and, finally, to communicate the solution – to pitch the idea – to a target audience.”

What makes the courses so exciting and increasingly popular, she says, is the powerful combination of real-world, problem-based activities embedded in projects that challenge students to collaborate, create, and communicate. Additionally, often working in two and three-person teams, students develop important interpersonal skills essential to success in today’s workplaces. In the introductory course, students learn design process, research and analysis techniques, global and human impacts of technology and engineering standards. They use the most current solid-modeling design software to design solutions to proposed problems. In the “Principles of Engineering” course, they delve further into mechanical engineering, extending the introductory learnings with major concepts they would encounter in post-secondary engineering courses. Digital Electronics, then, the final course in the sequence, leads students through the design of circuitry used to build basic computer processors. They use simulation software that prepares them to build a working prototype. By the end of the course, students are programming BOE Bot microprocessors (robots) to perform various class competitions. A unique feature of each course is that students need to successfully communicate their solutions both to peers and to members of the professional engineering community. At least once a year, they will “pitch” a problem-solution proposal to a cooperating engineer or engineering firm for review and critique. Each course also has a nationally standardized “End of Course Exam.” Grades run a range of proficiencies across 650 points, with scores over 600 indicating an “Accomplished” level. In last year’s exam, MC senior/valedictorian Charlie Dilman had the rare honor of earning a perfect score!

PLTW participation shapes one track of our Malden Catholic STEM Certificate Program, and successful completion is sometimes accompanied by college scholarship opportunity and college credit. Early indicators, says Mrs. Abbas, suggest that PLTW students “outperform their peers in school, are better prepared for post-secondary studies, and are more likely to consider careers as scientists, technology experts, engineers, mathematicians, healthcare providers, and researchers compared to their nonPLTW peers.” This 2022-23 school year, the program, entering its fourth year at MC, will run a total of eight sections with about 150 students. No doubt, the problem-solving mindset and real-world skills engendered by Project Lead the Way will allow students to make the leap from dreamers to doers in school and elsewhere -- engineers in the making!

“Early indicators suggest that PLTW students outperform their peers in school, are better prepared for post-secondary studies and are more likely to consider careers as scientists, technology experts, engineers, mathematicians, healthcare providers and researchers as compared to their non-PLTW peers," stated Mrs. Abbas.

I am a graduating Senior, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to attend MC. Malden Catholic has made a huge impact on my life both academically and athletically. One of my favorite parts of MC is the close, tight-knit community, as well as the faculty and staff. Over the past four years, I have established many relationships that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.