TEAMS

TEAMS (Technology and Engineering to Advance Math and Science) (En Español) is a partnership between the University of Colorado (CU) and the Boulder Valley School District to enrich the academic experience, particularly in science and math, for Lafayette students. Through the TEAMS program Ryan students, teachers and administrators, and the CU College of Engineering faculty and students together will explore engineering in everyday life. Through hands-on engineering experiences, students will come to understand the role that engineers play in meeting the needs and dreams of society, draw connections to meaningful applications of science, math and technology — and hopefully become motivated to create a brighter future through engineering and technology.

In 2004, a National Science Foundation (NSF) GK-12 grant was awarded to the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program (ITLP) of the CU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences to continue and enhance the partnership with six Lafayette public schools (four elementary schools, Angevine Middle School, and Centaurus High School). This 5-year grant creates a 10-year, pre-engineering continuum (3rd grade to college) aimed at enhancing the science and math curriculums in Lafayette. The program places graduate student “Fellows” in classrooms weekly to use engineering as a vehicle to integrate hands-on science and math instruction, exposing students and teachers to the joys and challenges of engineering in an inquiry-based way that helps convey the relevance of, and relationship between, math and science.

TEAMS also provides resources and a Fellow for Ryan’s after-school TEAMS group. Interested students participate in fun projects as they learn about the application of math and science concepts through the lens of real-world engineering applications. Also each semester, Ryan’s TEAMS students join middle school, high school, and college students in exhibiting their projects at CU’s Design Expo on campus in a fun and relaxed environment, while seeing for themselves the opportunities that will be available to them as engineering students in the future.