April 25th, 2013
The Miller Roadshow Truck will be at Sierra College this Saturday offering advanced MIG & TIG welding classes.
The new Sierra College Mobile Welding lab will be unveiled and attendees can take short workshops in the new lab.
PG&E and over 20 welding industry partners will provide demonstrations at the Rocklin campus. Attendees can try live as well as virtual welding.
When: Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 9am – 4:00 pm.
Who: The American Welding Society Sierra College Student Chapter is hosting this event for families, students, welders and community members.
Why: Attendees can experience metal working from blacksmithing to state-of-the-art welding technology being used in construction and fabrication to rebuild America.
Tags: 2013, April 27, CACT, Miller, mobile lab, Rocklin, Sierra, Sierra CACT, weld, Weld Expo, Welding
Posted in Sierra College, STEM Careers, STEM Education, Technical Education, Uncategorized, Workshops
April 24th, 2013
Sierra College faculty inspired high school girls, instilled new confidence and invited them to pursue technical careers at the first Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) event held on Friday, April 19. 
Small groups, hands-on on projects, female role models, encouraging professors and a warm welcome to Sierra College were all part of the strategy to inspire girls at the NEW event according to Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technology Center (CACT), Sierra College. Held at the Rocklin campus, girls from Roseville, Nevada City, Truckee and communities in between were introduced to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) education and careers paths.
“We wanted these girls to know that they can succeed in nontraditional careers and make 
a difference for their families, community and the world,” said Pepper-Kittredge. “The event was designed to engage girls, and help them see themselves attending Sierra College and taking computer, design, welding, Mechatronics and other Career Technical Education (CTE) classes.”
Tags: CACT, NEW, nontraditional careers, Nontraditional Employment for Women, Pepper-Kittredge, Sierra STEM, STEM, STEM for girls, Women in STEM
Posted in Innovation, Product Design, Sierra College, STEM Career Exploration, STEM Careers, STEM Education, STEM for girls, Technical Education, Uncategorized
April 24th, 2013
Discover your passion for welding, see the latest welding equipment, talk with experts, try welding, enroll in TIG or MIG advanced seminars, check out virtual welding, meet faculty and students, see pipe welding demonstrations and so much more at Weld Expo at Sierra College on Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 9 am to 4 pm. Free admission and free parking.
Learn more: http://sierraschoolworks.com/section/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/96-Sparks-will-fly-at-Sierra-College-Weld-Expo-’13.jpg
Tags: April 27, CTE, Rocklin, Sierra College, Sierra STEM Collaborative, weld, Weld Expo, Welding
Posted in Sierra College, STEM Career Exploration, STEM Careers, STEM Education, Technical Education, Workshops
April 18th, 2013
On Friday, April 19, girls from Placer and Nevada county high schools will experience what it might be like to study Mechatronics, Welding, Drafting & Engineering Support and other Career Technical Education programs that are nontraditional for women. Listen to the April 18 (10:25am) KNCO interview with Carol Pepper-Kittredge, CACT Director, Sierra College to learn more about this event aimed at attracting young women to STEM careers — Nontraditional Employment for Women Workshop.
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Tags: CACT, Career Technical Education, CTE, education path, girls in STEM, hands-on learning, KNCO, NEW, nontrad, Nontraditional Employment for Women, Pepper-Kittredge, Rocklin, STEM Education
Posted in Innovation, Sierra College, STEM Career Exploration, STEM Careers, STEM Education, STEM for girls, Technical Education, Uncategorized
April 16th, 2013
On Friday, April 19, at the NEW Event, high school girls, in groups of less than 10, will meet Sierra College faculty, create a project and learn about careers that are nontraditional for women such as welding, mechatronics, automotive and drafting.
This intimate NEW event will give girls a welcoming introduction to a technical education path at Sierra College. They will see labs, use tools, build projects, meet female college students and learn about careers. The event is designed to connect with girls and inspire their career plans.
At the Sierra College Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) Event expect:
- Girls doing hands-on projects using power and hand-tools in college labs.
- Students using diagnostic equipment to troubleshoot basic mechanical issues on a car.
- Women designing with 3D software and seeing 3D printing or additive manufacturing.
- Females learning basic fabrication skills to make their own metal flower vase.
- Girls interacting with faculty and college students at six different labs on campus.
Businesses seek more employees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Women are underrepresented in these fields. Attracting female students to technical careers will help supply workers needed to maintain a global competitiveness and provide living wage employment to women.
Tags: automotive, CACT, drafting, girls in STEM, Mechatronics, NEW, Nontraditional employment, Sierra College, STEM, STEM for girls, Welding, Women in STEM
Posted in Innovation, Sierra College, STEM Career Exploration, STEM Education, STEM for girls, Technical Education
April 8th, 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
March 12th, 2013
Congratualtions to Sierra College students, Kathryn Potts who won the Women’s Opportunity Award from Soroptimist International Loomis Basin.
Potts plans to become an automotive technician or an automotive service writer. “I have always liked fixing thing and seeing how they work,” said Potts. “By working in this traditionally male field, I will be able to make a great life for my kids.”
Several Loomis Basin School District teachers also won grants at the ceremony in Loomis on February 27 to enhance thier mathematics programs:
Susan McQueen, 6th grade math and science teacher at Loomis Grammar School, received a grant to buy a supplemental math program that uses visual and kinesthetic approaches to provide students with a foundation for success with algebra.
Top LtoR: Patricia Sleizer; Susan McQueen; Tracey Curry; Dana Swain; Bobbi Nelson; Bottom LtoR Jennifer Ameigeiras; Amanda Tibbitts; Angela Smith
Tracey Curry, 1st grade teacher at Ophir Elementary School, was given an award to purchase tactile manipulative kits that can be used by students to reinforce and practice key first grade math concepts.
Dana Swain, 4th grade teacher at Placer School, received a grant for a banking project to enhance both math and history curricula. This program will reinforce the concept of decimals while working with money, and teach students about banking services, financial institutions and how money impacts us every day as a cornerstone of our economy.
Learn more at the Loomis News Soroptimist awards make a difference — Teachers, community members receive grants and awards.
Tags: automotive education, Kathryn Potts, Loomis, nontraditional careers, Rocklin, Sierra College, soroptimist, transportation career paths
Posted in Innovation, Math Education, Sierra College, STEM for girls, Uncategorized
March 11th, 2013
In response to the need to prepare students for careers that require Applied Critical Thinking and other 21st Century Skills, Sierra College STEM Collaborative announced a new progessioal development program for high school and college faculty.
Local employers echo what national business organzations are saying – students need to be better prepared for the workplace. at a meeting on February 13, an employer skills panel made up of Andy Reimanis, Director of Engineering Telefunken Semiconductors America; Carol Rogers, Vice President, Progressive Technology; and Leandra Wilson, Director of Strategic Operations & Human Resources, Harris & Bruno shared specific examples of how employees use critical thinking. They all described the problem solving steps engineers and technicians went through to figure out how to solve production problems.
Read more about ACTivATE and what instructors and employers are saying about this new Sierra College STEm project at the Auburn Journal – Critical thinking to become a focus at local schools –Teachers listen, respond to input from local employers.
The ACTivATE project builds on National Science Foduantion projects. Sierra College will partner with Tennessee Technological University that produced a widely used Critical Thinking Assessment Test (Expanding the Use of CAT: Assessing and Improving Critical Thinking – NSF DUE 1022789 ) and the Northwestern University Searle Center for Teaching Excellence that developed Enhancing Critical Thinking in STEM Disciplines: A Faculty Development Model (NSF DUE 0942404), both National Science Foundation (NSF) projects. The ACTivATE project also builds on Sierra College’s previous NSF Tech-Explorer grant (ATE 1003259) that highlighted the fact that during a hands-on catapult building project, students did not exhibit the critical thinking skills required of technicians.
Tags: National Science Foudnation, Northwestern University, NSF, Tennessee Technological University
Posted in Innovation, National Science Foundation, Sierra College, STEM Education, Technical Education, Uncategorized
March 9th, 2013
Northstar California Resort gave college faculty a behind the scenes tour of the lift maintence operations so they could gain applied math examples to use in their classrooms. The one day externship was funded by the Sierra College Science,
Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Collaborative.
“Teachers can use simple geometry to demonstrate calculating the angle of the chair suspended from the cable carrying it up the hill,” said Katie Lucero, Math Department Chair, Sierra College. “We saw how data was collected and logged daily; basic math computations were used to confirm that the system is running within safety parameters. A much more complicated series of equations would be used by engineers in the design process to determine the weight per chair for the lift system, with and without people, when it is stopped and when it is moving at maximum speed.”
Learn more at Rocklin and Roseville Today Faculty tour Northstar to Apply Math to Jobs.
Tags: applied math, CACT, industry visits, katie lucero, math education, northstar, professional development, Sierra College, Sierra STEM, ski lift, STEM, teacher externships
Posted in Applied Math, Math Education, Professional Development, Sierra College, STEM Education, Uncategorized
March 8th, 2013
Math teachers are invited to a professional development program offered by the Sierra STEM Collaborative: Teach creativity while reinforcing essential math skills. It will be held March 14, 2013 3:30-5 PM at Colfax High School. The instructor is Jonathan Schwartz, Math & Engineering, Colfax High School.
Who: Math Teachers in grades 4-12 looking for innovative ways to reinforce Math & Critical Thinking skills.
Why come: Gain a new tool to use in your classroom, experience using it in this hands-on workshop and benefit from hearing what your peers are doing to enhance math education. You will get one set of Core-Cards to use.
What are Core-Cards? They are an incredibly flexible set of cards can be used to teach needed fraction, decimal and percentage skills. The cards are designed to visually prompt students so teachers can use the cards to help learners of all levels. Cards are 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8 and 8/8 and the equivalent reduced fraction, decimal and percentage. A diagram also appears on the cards. To play Go Fish, students collect cards that sum up to one in the same suit. Slap Jack is an anticipatory game; they slap when the last two cards add up to one. In 21, students add cards to get close to two.
How does it teach creativity? Students use their creativity to invent their own games. Through the experience, they use critical thinking skills and experience deeper levels of understanding. Students take a test to determine what skills they need to improve. Then they develop their own games to practice the needed skills. Students can write papers and/or give presentations about their hypothesis, the game developed, how the pilot of the game went, the results of the post-game test and how well the game improved their skills. This engages students and empowers them to take a more active role in their own education. They also benefit from going through an invention design process to create their game. Once developed, the games can be played by other students in your classroom. At this workshop, learn how to coach your students effectively through this process.
Learn More: http://core-cards.com/
Tags: Colfax, core-cards, high school, k-12, math teachers, professional develoment, Rocklin, Sacramento, Sierra STEM, STEM
Posted in Applied Math, Innovation, Math Education, Professional Development, Sierra College, STEM Education, Workshops
The Miller Roadshow Truck will be at Sierra College this Saturday offering advanced MIG & TIG welding classes.
