Times-Advocate, 1996-03-20, Page 131 C.CA:r♦
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Tech 21 exposes students- to career options'
The re -vamped family studies/design and technology was formerlyoffered at four elementary schools
Heather Mir T A staff
CLINTON Grade 7 and 8 students from Exeter
Public School recently participated inlbch 21 at
Central Huron .Secondary 'School where things have
come a long way since.the days of Home Ec. and
Shop.
Public school students in Huron County are bussed
to Tech 21 six times a year, ung six different
modules, two in each of four areas including
communication, personal care and design as well as
manufacturing and control systems. The program
rotates the modules on a two-year basis to vary the
projects for students.
"We try to keep up with technology," Said ''Itch 21
instructor Maggie Crane.
Within the two years'students attend the program
they complete 24 modules and after
finishing requirements the option to
return to a favored activity.
In the kitchen areas. both full day
modules, students compare pizzas
made from a mix with scratch pizza
and muffins cooked in the microwave
to those baked in a convection oven.
Eating your project is a bonus of
this module that also makes use of
a computer program.
The child care module teaches
child development and places
students in the on-site child care
facility where they work for the
morning. Grade 7 and 8 students also are responsible
for a 7 pound newborn baby (doll) they must carry for
the entire day.
Students learn about color and lines at the interior
design module and complete a floor plan for their own
family room.
Other modules include woodworking and plastic,
electric motors, impact investigation, robotics, fashion
design, desktop presentation; tele -communications,
computer assisted design, pneumatics and
electricity/electronics.
The latest addition is a multi -media work station
where students create a video they take home using
networked computers, a TV monitor, sound effects and
a photo scanner. The day EPS students attended Tech
21, the server for the Internet was down but staff were
quick to provide a back-up activity.
Three staff members including Harry Brooks and
Richard Maertens are kept busy rotating through
the different modules and are experienced
with all projects of the program which also
provides a job placement for high school co-
op students and the Co-op Opportunities
Providing Educatlon(COPE) program three
times a week.
Modules are set up similarly using a
student booklet that outlines the challenge of
the project as well as its learning outcomes, a
list of activities, a self-evaluation, final
evaluation and marks. A handbook for each
module leads students through activities.
Crane said Tech 21 "challenges students to
try things they might not otherwise try."
The Tech 21 Centre, based on the Essex County
model, was opened in the fall of 1994 in an effort to
provide a centralized altemative to the former design
and technology and home studies programs that were
once conducted at four elementary schools in the
county.
The different modules expose students to a wide
range of areas that may spark interest in career choices.
Although the centre was introduced as a cost-saving
venture, provincial funding reductions may force the
Huron Board of Education to take a second look at the
funding of Tech 21 as well as Junior Kindergarten and
Adult Education.
Fallon Gilles uses a band saw with the help of Santa Luangkham. Both Exeter Public School . Aran Beattie and Bob Hamilton were enthusiastic about the project they made out of Lego for
students were required to watch a safety film and eam licenses before operating the machin the Pneumatics module. This full day activity also includes the construction of a robotic arm.
ery in the Woodworking and Plastic module.
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