Gary Benenson

Professional Title
Professor
Organization/Institution
About Me (Bio)
Gary Benenson is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the City College of
New York. Prior to becoming an educator, he was a technician at Yale-New Haven Hospital and an Electronic Design Engineer at Picker International, Columbia University and Brookhaven National Labs. He now serves as Project Director of Physical Science Comes Alive, an NSF-funded effort to integrate engineering, math, science literacy and art in the elementary grades. Curriculum trials are taking place in low-income schools in NYC, DC, Los Angeles, and Northern Minnesota. Research on the materials is being conducted by Richard Lehrer of Vanderbilt University. Benenson is co-author of the five "Stuff that works!" curriculum guides, published by Heinemann. These materials make use of artifacts and problems from children's own environments, as sources for analysis and design.
Keywords
The City College of New York, CUNY
09/01/2007

This project creates eight half-year units in two subject areas—Force and Motion, and Energy Systems— for three grade bands, pre-K–1, 2-3 and 4–6. These projects integrate engineering, science, math literacy and art in the context of design, construction and testing of toys using inexpensive or recycled materials.