Free Engineering Courses for HS Students

Today The New York Times reported that MOOCs (massive open online courses) have been designed by Brown University to attract the participation of high school students in the field of engineering.

See: Brown University Creates Online Course for High School Students
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/brown-university-creates-a-mooc-for-high-school-students/?src=recg

Apparently, Brown University is the first university to create a MOOC designed specifically for high schoolers and, very interestingly, "this course is based more on activities and research assignments than on video lectures" - an idea that education leaders believe should replace the current dated Industrial Model of instruction used in most US high schools.

"We know we need more STEM education, and bridging the gap between college and high school with an open online course is a great way to get more kids into these fields and more interested in the college experience," states John Coates.

This MOOC is being called innovative and unprecedented. Since the country needs more students to delve into STEM courses, this might a great step in the right direction.