Twenty students at University High School will have the opportunity to see for themselves how and what they are learning in the classroom when used in various occupations, thanks to an AT&T "STEM AT Work" grant.
Based on outcomes from an initial program last year, AT&T Florida provided $120,000 to challenge Florida's district-wide local education foundations to create STEM workplace experiences throughout the state this school year through a grant to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundation (CFEF).
The project's aim is to provide students hands-on experiential learning opportunities outside the classroom that are directly linked to their coursework in science, technology, engineering and/or math.
Problem-solving, real-world application of STEM education concepts and critical thinking skills will all be key elements.
With $100,000 in funding last year, 44 projects involving 2,694 students and 53 local workplace partners took place throughout Florida and similar outcomes are anticipated for the 2011-12 project.
The project "STEM Students Teaming with Engineers in Manufacturing" has partnered with Covidien in DeLand, Florida.
The project began on January 23, 2012 and will end on May 4, 2012.
The twenty University High School STEM Academy students will be broken into (4) teams of (5) students.
Each group will be assigned one of the initiatives for the job shadowing experience.
The initiatives that will be covered during this job shadowing experience are as follows:
1) Scrap Reduction-(waste) Evaluation of mechanical issues.
Why is there scrapping? Equipment maintenance evaluation; 2) Overall Equipment Effectiveness (O.E.E.) - inspection of efficiency, machine availability, machine performance, and machine quality; 3) Sampling Plan optimization-product inspection-statistical analysis to determine how much produce to sample for inspection; and 4) Total Productive Maintenance-Evaluation how much maintenance, who and when does maintenance happen? Preceding the visits to the Covidien plant, a team of engineers will visit University High STEM Academy classes to speak on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Standard Operating procedures (SOP) and addressing the whole group.
They will speak to the Engineering classes and the STEM Lab classes for a total audience of 380 students.
Following the job shadowing experience, there will be a designated evening for the students to showcase their findings and suggestions for improvements.
Covidien will host this event.
This will provide an event for parents, school board employees, and area manufacturing representatives can see how to implement a job shadowing at their site.
The student teams will work with Covidien engineers in the respective areas that the initiatives are to be addressed in the plant. They will be working through real problems that they face while manufacturing various medical supplies.
This will not be simulated, but actual problem solving opportunities for the teams.
The complexity of the issues addressed with each initiative makes it necessary for a student team to spend their whole job shadowing experience in one area.
The goal of this project is to provide the students with a real world application to problem solving in the field of engineering.
Each team will be immersed in real problems and asked to provide real solutions.
The students will have a better understanding of the work involved, the work environment, and the challenges that face engineers in a manufacturing plan
"We are pleased with this partnership because Florida's K-12 education foundations are well positioned to be the link between schools and local businesses that can make these critical connections to students," said Marshall Criser, III, AT&T Florida President.
"By concentrating on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math curriculum, this program will provide real life experiences that can help increase the number of Florida's students graduation high school college- and career-ready."
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About the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (CFEF):
CFEF is the membership organization for Florida's school district-wide location education foundations. Established in 1987, CFEF seeks to advance student achievement in Florida by increasing private sector investment and involvement in public education. CFEF now has 55 member foundations with 1,100 business and community leaders serving as volunteer board members. Collectively, they raise more than $40 Million annually to support students, teachers and schools through a variety of programs. CFEF has provided more than $20 Million to local education foundations since 2002 through various private and public sector partnership, including the State of Florida School District Education Foundation Matching Grant Program.
FUTURES Foundation is a nonprofit, direct funding organization founded to support Volusia County Schools. The organization's board of directors consists of business and community leaders who raise funds for needed programs, for which tax money is not available, in the public schools.
