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We Need More Technology Education  in our Schools

2/11/2014

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Education reform has never ended in our schools and never will. The sad part is it always restarts with ELA and Math then starts to trickle down to science and social studies. Then another push comes from somewhere else and the process starts all over again. Unfortunately Technology Education is rarely updated nor appreciated. As a Technology Teacher myself I know the value in what I teach and I see how the skills that we teach are used every day.  I just wish the people / politicians who make these education policies would see the value of technology education and encourage more of it in schools.


Over the years I have had hundreds of parents dragged into my room by excited students during Open House. After hearing the course description I hear comments like "Can I take your class", "We need more of this in our schools", and "I wish somebody taught me that when I was in school". These comments are great; unfortunately I am just giving an introduction to technology because I only have 20 weeks with my students.  During that period I cover a lot of cool things in my class like Tech Concepts, Woodworking, Computer Aided Drawing, Electricity, Plumbing,  Home repair, Internet Safety and Web Design.  While teaching these topics I have the students reading, writing, and using math.  Guess what, my kids don't complain about it either.  The only complaint I hear is" awe I have to go to ELA or math next." Not realizing that I just had them adding and subtracting fractions, and writing descriptive instructions on how to do something or updating their daily activity log on their website.
The bottom line is, most kids love technology classes as it allows them to build and be creative while learning. Most of the kids don't even realize they are learning while making their projects.  Most states don't have a mandate for technology classes and those that do only require a minimal amount of seat time in a technology classroom. This needs to change.   

Maybe I am ignorant and blind to educational theory, but wouldn't it make sense to have more technology classes in schools if that is what the kids like and it contains reading, writing ,and math.  It is a fact that manufacturing is coming back to the States; and a lot of it is in the form of robotic manufacturing.  The jobs that are in high demand are good paying jobs like electro-mechanical engineers, computer programmers, robotic technicians, and so on. We do not need to push students in this direction, we just need to pave the pathway for them to get there.


Please share and post your thoughts and comments below.    www.techedlearning.com
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How to Expand your Technology Education curriculum for free 

2/1/2014

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Over the past few years classroom budgets have been dramatically reduced. This is likely and after effect of the economic down turn that the U.S. saw a few years back. I am currently running on 1/3 of the budget that I used to have, and now am evaluated on student performance. This is true for almost all educators thus the expression "We are expected to do more with less" was coined.  We all need to be creative in order keep our shops and curriculum running strong and there are several ways to do this without tons of extra work on your part. Below are a few Ideas that may work for you in your situation.

Grants The grant process which is great but you normally one can't rely on it, and we all know having a variable in a curriculum is not good planning. There are lots of grants available if you know where to look. Many times there are grants from successful local businesses, again with the recent economic downturn these have disappeared but are starting to emerge once again. Grants are great for kicking of a project and taking the initial blow of capital but it is foolish to rely on grants to maintain your curriculum. This is where you see a lot of projects failing of falling apart.

Reducing the Size of your projects can save you a lot of money. Making the project smaller and more intricate can be both more educational and of higher quality than a larger project. By reducing the dimensional size of your projects obviously reduces the amount of material used and possible allows the use of scraps from other businesses.

Free Materials Use your resources. Every town has some sort of business that has scraps that you can turn into great projects. Business such as sign shops, counter-top shops, building contractors, furniture and cabinet makers, and many other fabricators love to donate materials in exchange for you providing them with a receipt of the value of the material donated on school letterhead.  Business love doing this because they get to clean out their shops and get a tax credit for their donation.


Lean on the IT Department Many districts IT departments has and holds the budget for computer equipment and software. They may be able to supply you with not only the software but the hardware as well.  Our IT department supplies us with computers, support, and Chief Architect which is a high end architect program. I will soon be looking into Robot Virtual World as a new unit to add to the class.  So look into how your IT department may be able to help you out.

Your Administrator's Pockets A good time to ask for some things for class is at the beginning of the year or just before the budgets are about to be closed out. Sometimes they have money that needs to be spent or they will use it. Over the years I have been able to secure some machines and other useful items for the class just by asking at the right time. Of course having a great reason for getting these items when asking is a plus.


Three Piece Puzzle  TechEd LLCThree Piece Puzzle TechEd LLC
Free Technology Education Project I have been running this project for over 10 years now and it really works well and doesn't cost a dime.  I have my middle school students learn the basics of CAD using Trimble's free SketchUp Program.  Then they go to the shop and build their puzzles out of scrap wood from a local woodworking shop. All the pieces are small so it isn't hard to find scrap that will work for this project.  Next the students go back to the computer lab and create illustrated directions on how to put the puzzle together and write directions describing each step.  Finally they publish their work on their free website that they make for class using Weebly. I used to have them make a booklet and print it out. That worked great too.  Click for more info on the Three Piece Puzzle project. 

Please comment and share any of your experiences below.

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    C. Szyikowski

    Owner Tech Ed LLC
    Education
        -Alfred State
             -Mechanical Engineering
      -Oswego State
             - Technology Education
    Experience
       -13 yrs teaching M.S. Tech
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