Today's society is more complex and children are exposed to greater amounts of information. Students learn best when immersed in complex, stimulating, real-world experiences because they understand the reasons for learning the material. While solving problems, students learn basic science and math. CTE provides lessons that are interesting, real world and relevant, complex but stimulating, and hands-on. Our methodology is to offer teachers the opportunity to attend short courses at UCF, which are taught by engineers, researchers, scientists, teachers and mathematicians.
Teachers learn hands-on how to integrate technology into their curriculum.
Short courses are designed to be fun and interactive where teachers supplement their lesson plans with the use of hardware. Teachers also receive in-service points. We have conducted a survey of teachers and county technology and science coordinators. The survey included a question on whether there are sufficient training opportunities available to teachers. The response is that although there are many training workshops available, there is a great need to incorporate hands-on training.