The TEAK project (Traveling Engineering Activity Kits) is aimed at bringing engineering concepts into K-12 classrooms and extracurricular activities, as well as providing an opportunity for college-level engineering students to reinforce their own knowledge of engineering and share their excitement about the subject with the next generation of engineers.
The TEAK project is unique in that the activities are developed entirely by engineering students. Graduating engineering students in RIT's Kate Gleason College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Senior Design program develop and pilot the activities, lesson plans, handouts, and assessment materials for each TEAK. Our students have successfully run TEAK workshops for over 3000 middle school students and educators since 2006.
Learn more about our sponsors and collaborators, and personnel.
Sponsors
Support for the development of the initial set of TEAK activities was provided by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (2005-06 Senior Projects grant)
Partial support for the TEAK Project is provided by the National Science
Foundation's Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI)
program under Award No. 0737462. Any opinions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Science Foundation.
Collaborators
We are pleased to announce that, beginning in the fall of 2009, we will be working in collaboration with the BoSAT Elementary Science (part of Monroe #1 BOCES academic enrichment program). BoSAT Elementary Science ofers science kits for grades K-6 for use in the greater Rochester area.
The TEAK Project is now a part of the STOMP Network. "STOMP" is the Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program, created at Tufts University in 2001. The STOMP Network brings together experts in STEM disciplines and K-12 teachers and students to the benefit of all involved.
Staff Members, Past and Present
Since the 2005-06 academic year, over 30 RIT students, faculty, and staff members have been involved in The TEAK Project!
Elizabeth DeBartolo, Ph.D. - Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and TEAK co-creatorMargaret Bailey, Ph.D., PE - Professor in Mechanical Engineering and TEAK co-creator
Julie Olney - WE@RIT coordinator and TEAK coordinator
Sarah Cass - RIT Faculty Developer and TEAK/TA Workshop developement
Melissa Zaczek - Engineer at Cummins, Inc. and team leader for 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design project
Timothy Schreifer - RIT-Mechanical Engineering class of 2006 and lead engineer for 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design project
Patrick Kelley - Ph.D. candidate, Carnegie Mellon University and member of 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design team
Shannon Perkins - RIT-Industrial Design alumnus and member of 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design team
Mallika Ramaswamy - Lean Transformation Specialist at GE and member of 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design team
Nicholas Ryczko - Engineer at Pratt & Whitney and member of 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design team
Michael Sterling - RIT-Electrical Engineering class of 2006 and member of 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design team
John Wocial - RIT Industrial & Systems Engineering class of 2006 and member of 2005-06 TEAK Senior Design team
Geoffrey Brown - RIT-Software Engineering class of 2007 and member of TEAK website Senior Design Team
Brendan Kapsimalis - RIT-Software Engineering class of 2007 and member of TEAK website Senior Design Team
William Minsinger - RIT-Software Engineering class of 2007 and member of TEAK website Senior Design Team
Aaron Pfeifer - RIT-Software Engineering class of 2007 and member of TEAK website Senior Design Team
Kevin Visalli - RIT-Software Engineering class of 2007 and member of TEAK website Senior Design Team
William Scorse - MS Student, RIT Mechanical Engineering and project manager for 2008-09 TEAK Senior Design project
Nicholas Dalton - RIT-Mechanical Engineering class of 2009 and member of 2008-09 TEAK Senior Design Team
David Gao - RIT-Electrical Engineering class of 2009 and member of 2008-09 TEAK Senior Design Team
Eugene Koon - RIT-Electrical Engineering class of 2009 and member of 2008-09 TEAK Senior Design Team
Richard Liccion - Engineer at Lockheed-Martin and member of 2008-09 TEAK Senior Design Team
Sheryl Gillow - RIT Mechanical Engineering class of 2010 and TEAK Instructor/co-op student Winter & Spring 2008-09
Kristen Curtze - RIT-New Media class of 2009 and TEAK web designer
Joe Dube - RIT class of 2008 and TEAK illustrator
Whitney Domigan - RIT-Mechanical Engineering class of 2010 and TEAK technical writer
Alecia Battaglia - SUNY Geneseo Class of 2007 and TEAK lesson plan reviewer
Felix Feliz - RIT Mechanical Engineering class of 2009 and TEAK Instructor/co-op student Fall 2008
Anna Murray
