Teachers back in school, learning how inspire students with high-tech skills

SEATTLE  -  It may be mid-summer, but dozens of teachers went back to school today.  Not to teach, but to gain some high-tech skills to pass along to their students.

At Seattle University, teachers have arrived from all over the northwest to learn skills vital to getting kids ready for a tech-based economy.

Topics range from the latest in computer science, to energy and the environment abd space flight.

"We use MIT App Inventor to help them make Android apps,” explained Maya Heissenbuttel, a master teacher in Computer Science, “so that we can teach our kids how to not only think computationally and how to think their way through a problem and how to solve problems, but also to build tools that are gonna help them in the future."

A non-profit group called Project Lead the Way made the training possible.

It's sponsored by dozens of high-tech companies what want to encourage a new generation of Americans to be able who can solve problems and think critically and creatively.

“We owe it to our students to make sure they have the skills necessary to have great careers and our economy requires us to have a skilled work force,” said Vince Bertram President and CEO of Project Lead the Way.  “So the connection of those two things is vital for America’s prosperity.”

Bertram says in the past year, more than 2.4 million students and thousands of schools were involved in Project Lead the Way.

“Skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills are essential regardless of which career our children choose,”  he said.