Ellis Tech Instructor Receives Funding to
Field Test Innovative Photonics Curriculum

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) has provided funding to Donna Goyette, physics instructor of H.H. Ellis Technical High School in Danielson, Connecticut to field test a photonics curriculum developed through PHOTON PBL, a project funded by a three-year, $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The NSF grant to NEBHE is the fourth in a series that fund curriculum and professional development projects that strengthen photonics curriculum in secondary schools and two- and four-year colleges in New England and throughout the country. The new grant employs problem-based learning (PBL) in which students solve real-world “challenges” presented by industry and research partners.

PBL has been used extensively in medical education since the early 1970s and widely adopted in other fields including business, law and education. Now, it is beginning to emerge as an alternative to the traditional lecture-based approach in engineering and technology education.

H.H. Ellis Technical High School is among 27 secondary and postsecondary schools accepted to the project. Once the field tests are underway, the project team will conduct quantitative and qualitative research on the efficacy of PBL in photonics education and eventually publish and present the findings to an international audience with a focus on U.S. secondary schools and community colleges.

“Problem-based learning offers a vital enhancement to traditional instructional methodologies as it prepares educators and their students for today and tomorrow’s high technology workplace,” said NEBHE President and CEO Evan S. Dobelle.

The PHOTON PBL project held a professional development workshop in July 2007 at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, at which partnering high school and college educators worked with PBL strategies to prepare to field-test the first set of “challenges” in the fall. After the field tests are completed, the challenges will be disseminated to high school and community college technology educators throughout the nation.

Partners expected to submit challenges include: Boston University Photonics Center, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pennsylvania State Electro-Optics Center, Flemming Tinker LLC of Connecticut, PVI Systems of Connecticut, IPG Photonics Corp. of Massachusetts, Photomachining Inc. of New Hampshire and Photodigm Inc. of Texas.

“Students will gain the skills that are crucial in a rapidly changing technology field, challenge partners will receive national exposure and we’ll all benefit from the development of a pool of young problem-solvers,” said the project’s principle investigator, Fenna Hanes of NEBHE.

PHOTON PBL is funded through the NSF’s Advanced Technological Education program. Co-principal investigators are Three Rivers Community College Professor Judy Donnelly, Springfield Technical Community College Professor Nicholas Massa and Roger Williams University Professor Richard Audet. For more information, visit: http://www.nebhe.org/photonpbl.