Photo By Robert DeDeaux | PHOENIX – Kaspala Garrett, a hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of...... read more read more
PHOENIX (March 3, 2021) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific Border District partnered with BASIS Phoenix Central Elementary School to recognize National Engineers Week, Feb. 22.
Neil Tugaoen and Garrett Kaspala, engineers with the District, along with Laina Moussallem, a teacher and engineering expert at BASIS Phoenix Central, conducted presentations and answered STEM-related questions for several classes ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade.
“The presentation was a great opportunity to open the door to different and exciting engineering disciplines for students to consider,” said Kaspala, a hydraulic engineer. “I think we also were able to introduce some new concepts specifically regarding projects Neil and I worked.”
Founded by the National Society Professional Engineers in 1951, National Engineers Week, or EWeek, is celebrated yearly in February. Today, EWeek is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, educational, and cultural societies, with more than 50 corporations and government agencies supporting it. EWeek is dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers' positive contributions to quality of life. EWeek promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce.
“It was clear the students already had a good basic knowledge of engineering,” said Kaspala, a University of Maine graduate.
The BASIS Phoenix Central Elementary School Engineering program provides Engineering Design, and Engineering and Technology classes to its students. Both classes are available to students from the first grade on.
“It was helpful to have a different perspective reiterating what has already been taught and complimenting student knowledge with real world application,” said Moussallem, a subject expert teacher with a Master of Science in biomedical engineering. “It was important to host the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in my classes to make a connection for the students. I think the presentation gave them many specific examples of that (engineering) and from new subject experts.”
The USACE presentation consisted of a brief mission history, two EWeek videos, different types of engineering practices, and a list of STEM resources for more information.
“I believe it also opened the students’ understanding of how engineering demands are interrelated and how there are more specific demands that we haven’t discussed like geotechnical engineering,” stated Moussallem, an instructor of four years. “How we delivered thoughtful information to the students as a team was the best possible representation of how effective a team of engineers can be in any scenario, even a classroom.”
Tugaoen and Kaspala also held a question and answer session following each class presentation.
“It was important to hold the Q&A to ensure the children felt heard, and to then answer any questions they had regarding engineering and the engineering field,” explained Tugaoen, a civil engineer. “I think the students took the opportunity seriously and asked relevant questions.”
Each presentation took no more than the allotted class time.
“I greatly appreciate the generosity and interest of the USACE in their outreach endeavor with our BASIS Phoenix Central Engineering program,” concluded Moussallem.
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2021 14:40 |
| Story ID: | 390702 |
| Location: | PHOENIX, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 142 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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