Junior High students get taste of engineering

Junior High students get taste of engineering
By Linda Vanderwerf
West Central Tribune - 12/16/2008
Designing and building a wall shelf on a computer screen can be pretty cool.

But cutting and sanding the oak and building that shelf with your own hands is even better.

In the Gateway to Technology class at Willmar Junior High School, eighth-graders get to do both.

The half-year course takes the traditional wood shop project that’s been built for years at the Junior High and goes beyond, giving all eighth-grade students the chance to learn the basics of computer-aided design.

The class is part of a curriculum called Project Lead the Way, designed to give high school students a head start on studying for careers in engineering and technology. GTT gives students an introduction to the Project Lead the Way courses taught at Willmar Senior High.

“Now, everyone is going out there with the basics,” Cole said, and the teachers at the high school will be able to pick up where GTT leaves off.

Last week, students put the finishing touches on their shelves and began staining them.

Teacher Jason Cole told them he wanted to see the projects finished before school breaks for the holidays — “they make great gifts.”

Cole said he hadn’t known what to expect when the new components were added for an eighth-grade course, but he has been pleased.

The class began with drawing solid shapes with pencil and paper and learning about dimensions. The kids progressed to the building and computer design. “The kids just flew with it.” he said.

“I didn’t even know you could build this stuff on the computer,” said Chaz Fenske, 13, as he demonstrated how he designed the shelf and put it together on the computer screen.

Nate Mittag, 14, and Janessa Palmer, 13, were also working on the computers. Nate and Chaz listed GTT as their favorite class, while Janessa said she likes all her classes. All said their parents have been impressed with what they have learned.

“I like the building better than the computer stuff,” Janessa said. “You get to see it put together, and you know you’re the one who made it.”

Nate enjoyed learning the computer design. “It would be a great job,” he said. But he, too, liked the actual building better. His dad works at a lumber yard, he added, so he grew up around wood and enjoyed learning to work with it.

“I hear that a lot,” Cole said, when the students said they liked learning the computer design skills but preferred working with their hands. Parents often tell him the same thing at conferences, he said.

There’s something about learning how to use the power tools and having something tangible to show for their effort that will always appeal to kids, he said.

The course makes use of math and computer skills. Students use their communications skills, as they write a “shop journal” for the class. “They keep track daily of where we are and what we need to do,” Cole said.

Students are also charged with doing an assessment of their own work.

“That’s the whole thing with engineering,” Cole said. “You design it and build it and see how it works.”

A grant from the Kern Family Foundation of Waukesha, Wis., helped the school district implement the classes related to Project Lead the Way. It has paid for training for industrial technology teachers, provided software for the classes and helped pay for equipment, like the new computer lab in the Junior High’s industrial technology area.