INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION This is not your father's shop class

Kids cannot afford to be technologically illiterate in today's world, a middle school teacher says.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Back when steel was king, the Mahoning Valley was one of the nation's industrial leaders. Today, the area's labor pool is best known for producing automobiles, wiring harnesses and other products dependent on modern technology.
Some area educators say it's time for schools to educate teenagers in technology to keep pace with these trends.
Tim Tryon, industrial technology teacher at the two Austintown middle schools, began a class this year to introduce technology to eighth-graders so they can become "technologically literate," he said. It replaces the kind of traditional wood or metal shop offerings most adults were given in their early teens when it was referred to as shop class or industrial arts.
Instead of teaching pupils to build a bird house, they can learn how to run a computer program that tells a robot to carry out certain tasks. They can build a model bridge and a space station on a computer. They can study solar energy and build and operate a solar car. They can run a computer-aided drafting program.
New century
Tryon calls the industrial technology program in the Austintown school system the "industrial arts of the new century."
"Technological literacy should no longer be an option. It should be a requirement," he said, warning that American children are falling behind kids in other countries that place a higher value on it, such as Japan, Germany and England.
He points to the European Space Agency as having "surpassed NASA in some areas" as an indication of where this is leading.
One of Tryon's biggest supporters is Ann Marie Hiznay, director of instruction for Austintown Public Schools, who says Tryon, who has been a teacher at Austintown for 30 years, has the background and training to "see what is coming in the future and prepare students in a proactive way."
"Tim has taken it to a new level," Hiznay said.
Tryon taught industrial arts at Fitch for 20 years before switching to science, which he taught for 10 years at Austintown Middle School. The more he learned about science, the more he began to see connections between science and technology, so he began to use technological examples to make concepts such as Newton's Laws easier for students to understand.
He would start off the lesson with a hands-on demonstration such as how to fly a rocket and then discuss the scientific concepts behind it. "I have always been a hands-on person. I have never been the type of teacher who pushes lots of paper in front of kids," he said.
When the position opened up last year to teach middle school industrial arts, Tryon eagerly accepted it and set out to try something different. He visited a couple of schools in the Kent and Cleveland areas to pick up some ideas before setting up his class.
An additional challenge was that his class had to be portable because he would teach at Frank Ohl half of the year and at Austintown Middle School the other half. Students are offered the class as an elective.
Stations
Tryon's class is set up around eight stations:
*Mind Storm Robotics, named after the software and kit from toy manufacturer Lego that allows the pupil to operate a robot by programming its commands.
*Computer Aided Drafting, which teaches many concepts at many different levels and is therefore versatile for pupils of various intellectual levels.
*Flight technology, which teaches the pupil how to build and fly a rocket.
*Bridge building, which allows a pupil to build a small-size bridge and to analyze the strength of various designs.
*Power and energy, which includes the use of a small gas-powered engine that students can take apart and study.
*Screen printing, which allows students to learn about graphics and make items such as T-shirts.
*Materials processing, which includes an assignment to build a "desk jockey" from wood and plastic, and includes the use of traditional woodworking tools.
*Transportation, in which the student builds a car and analyzes its efficiency.
By letting pupils study two to three of these areas during their nine weeks in the class, Tryon hopes they will discover an interest in one area and pursue it further in high school, where a full range of classes is offered.
Tryon said it is important for every pupil to be exposed to industrial technology, including those planning to go to college.
College bound?
"Years ago kids were told if they wanted to go to college, don't take shop classes," he said. He believes this is why he sometimes encounters engineers who don't seem to be able to build or operate simple devices. Their training has been mostly theoretical, he said, and they lack hands-on experience.
He believes this hands-on approach to learning could benefit all types of students.
According to the International Technology Education Association, technological literacy helps pupils when they become adult consumers to better analyze products. It also helps them make intelligent buying decisions and allows them to better evaluate scientific breakthroughs.
Tryon said having technologically literate young people is also important to society.
"When you think about the biggest changes that have occurred in society, it has been by people who were able to use and apply technology -- the inventors and innovators -- such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford," he said.
The eight stations in Tryon's class help teach technology by doing more than giving a pupil a product to build. Each station requires a student to follow directions and use problem solving abilities and higher thinking skills. In the power and energy station, the pupil learns about a 4-cycle engine and alternative energy sources. The problem solving comes in when pupils are given an assignment and expected to overcome any obstacles they encounter, Tryon said.
For those who wish to do more research on industrial technology, Tryon suggests visiting www.geocities.com/tech_ed_2000.