CITYPOLYTECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO ARCHITECTURAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY STUDIES

As educators, we are entrusted with the responsibility of instilling our students with the necessary technical and soft skills needed to succeed.In order to accomplish this, we need to respond to the needs of the millennial or digital generation by incorporating multimedia into our classrooms in a structured, meaningful way well before students enter the college learning environment.City Polytechnic High School has embarked on this effort through their Integrated Projects course offerings.The City Polytechnic High School of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CityPoly) welcomed its first cohort of freshman in fall 2009.As a five year secondary school, these students will not only receive a high school diploma in three years but may also continue on to an associates degree in areas such as architectural, civil engineering and construction management technology at New York City College of Technology (CityTech), part of the City University of New York.CityPoly will be the first New York City High School to allow 12 th For the first three years of study at CityPoly, students take a series of Integrated Projects (IP) courses.The IP learning model focuses on project-based, interdisciplinary learning with multimedia applications.The disciplines of architecture and civil engineering serve as the medium for this learning.The mission of the IP courses is to develop the skill set students need to successfully transition into college or directly into the workforce.This paper focuses on the curriculum development methodology, implementation, and assessment of the Integrated Projects courses.grade students to attend a university full-time and interact directly with college students.