Dean Thomas
M.S.T.
Dean Thomas, M.S.T., received a Master’s Degree in Science Teaching from Portland State University in 2010. He has spent over a decade teaching science in the middle school classroom near Portland, OR. During this period, he has been a teacher leader for his school district, designing and implementing NGSS based science curriculum. The last few years have provided him the opportunity to focus fully on hands-on engineering practices in a middle school engineering design elective program. As a Heritage Institute instructor, his goal is to create a curriculum for teachers that is not only informative but can be used directly back in their classrooms.
Offered Courses
BRINGING ENGINEERING DESIGN & CODING INTO YOUR CLASSROOM (STEM)
Course No. CM403p, CM503p
This course meets OSPI's STEM requirements.
Design Thinking is a critical skill needed for our students to be prepared to solve life skills they will encounter throughout life in any circumstances. Design Thinking is the non-linear iterative process in which to solve problems. The engineering design process includes the following:
1) Define the Problem
2) Research
3) Plan
4) Create
5) Test and
6) Improve.
Code.org and Scratch are two free online programs that teach students basic coding skills and allow them to create various projects of their choice, including games, animations, stories, and art.
