Honeywell is helping women - and men - develop their technical skills through its unique STEM Teacher Leadership Program, a unique scheme which trains teachers to code so that they can pass their skills onto their pupils.

The program, sponsored by Honeywell Hometown Solutions, Honeywell's corporate citizenship initiative, welcomed educators to the state-of-the-art computer labs at Georgia Tech, facilitated by the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). 

A diverse program covering a range of coding-related subjects

The four-week program covers a variety of coding-related topics, including programming, computational thinking, microcomputers, augmented reality and robotics. “We are at an exciting time – creating a new discipline from scratch,” says instructor Bryan Cox, a Computer Science Specialist from the Georgia Department of Education. “Computer science has been around a long time, but we are broadening it to a subject that will be taught from kindergarten through grade 12.” 

As part of the program, teachers also work with Honeywell engineers who serve as mentors to implement the new lesson plans. The goal is to prepare students for the Honeywell STEM Challenge, a software engineering competition where students work in teams to solve real-world challenges using the newly learned computation techniques.

“The teachers have a new foundation to implement innovative practices that go beyond the standard curriculum taught in today’s classrooms,” says Jamshed Patel, the Site Leader of the Honeywell Atlanta Software Center. “Our hope is to create a pipeline of talented young men and women who will become our future STEM leaders.”

Here’s what three of the teachers to have taken part in the inaugaral program have to say about their experiences: 

Gaynell Troy, Brown Middle School 2018 Teacher of the Year, says: “I learned to design, build and code robots. Perhaps more importantly, my exposure to augmented and virtual reality have added new concepts and tools for teaching computer science to my class. I feel my perspective of computer science has been transformed, and I am already imagining powerful new lessons for my students.” 

Richard Fox, Geometry Teacher at South Atlanta High School, says: “We learned about microcomputers, different programming languages, augmented reality, and robotics … all these things sounded so difficult and complicated to me, but in reality, they really are so simple. I've still not even scratched the surface of what I want to know. There was so much I wanted to learn about computer science and technology, but I was intimidated because I didn’t know where to start. After four intensive weeks of training, I now know it’s not all magic anymore, but it’s still magical.”

Dana Johnson, Computer Science Teacher at Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy, adds: "The network of teachers and instructors that was assembled was phenomenal. I now know at least 24 people who I can collaborate with on classroom challenges this fall. One of the coolest things we learned was Agile Scrum, a software project management tool that helped us track our progress throughout the program. The value I’ll bring back to the students from this program will be immeasurable.”

Further your career with prime employer, Honeywell

To get involved in the innovations at Honeywell and help inspire others into the world of STEM, search the range of opportunities available at the company and apply without delay.

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