The students were excited about the different careers such as drafting and design that they are not exposed to at their high school according to Anne Butterworth, Engineering Technology teacher, North Tahoe High School. “The biggest benefit for the students was seeing the college and career opportunities that are available to anybody, not just the straight A honor roll student,” said Butterworth. “Also, the students were able to see that what we do in our class is relevant to the outside world.”

According to Matthew Nadeau, Director of Manufacturing, Telefunken Semiconductors America, the company has hired several Sierra College Mechatronics graduates and welcomed the opportunity to encourage students to consider a technical career. “This was a rare opportunity for students to see how chips used in anti-locking braking automotive electronics systems are produced,” said Nadeau. “Our employees were excited to demonstrate the equipment they use in a high-tech production environment and share what they enjoy about their careers. For students, seeing where they might work could motivate them to focus on a career path.”

While at Sierra College, students toured the Welding, Mechatronics, Construction, Automotive and Drafting & Engineering Support departments. Alison Salome, Drafting & Engineering Support Department Chair, impressed the students with samples of projects produced on rapid prototype equipment. She also highly recommended the field of drafting for women because of their ability to multi-task and pay attention to the fine details.

“My goal is to give you skills to put you to work,” said Salome. “With just four classes in two semesters, you can earn an employability certificate and start at approximately $13-14 per hour. In four semesters, you can complete one of three Skills Certificates or your AA degree and earn about $25 per hour, the average wage for drafters in the Sacramento region.”

Local employers are seeking skilled technicians explained Carol Pepper-Kittredge, director of the Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) and administrator of the Sierra Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Collaborative grant (www.sierraschoolworks.com). “The purpose of the field trip was to increase the pipeline of students attending Sierra College and preparing for future jobs as skilled technical employees,” said Pepper-Kittredge. “Buses and other costs were funded by Sierra STEM Collaborative grant, awarded by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.” Friday’s field trip was also supported by the Sierra College Perkins 1C grant.

For information, go to www.sierracollege.edu, or contact Carol Pepper-Kittredge, director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, Sierra College, at cpepper-kittredge@sierracollege.edu or (916) 660-7517.

May 5 Beginining Solar Energy & Sept 15

June 26 Solar Science NASA

Nov. 3 Electric Circuits

Learn more on page 5 of the SMUD Summer 2012 Energy Education newsletter

And if you’d like to learn more about robotics, check out the Sierra College Mechatronics program and see the movie to learn what students say about Mechatronics.

The new site is “focused on resources for students but also contains resources for counselors, parents, teachers, in short, anyone interested in developing the career self-management skills….” There are many links for assessing your interests, exploring careers, finding the education path, getting better at money management and looking for a job.

According to participants, sharing ideas with other Career Technical Education teachers is one of the best forms of professional development. Participants said that what they learned was relevant, they could see their classes importing sketches and CAD drawings into SketchUp and that sharing concepts, projects and teaching tools was very valuable.

Tom Stargaard, Tech Essentials teacher at Del Oro, demonstrated SketchUp, explained how he integrated it into the Tech Essentials class required for freshmen and then helped participants try it themselves. See Tom’s projects at https://sites.google.com/a/puhsd.k12.ca.us/sketchup/. In addition, the teachers discussed assignments using the Career Cruising program supplied to the schools through the Sierra STEM Collaborative to help students identify careers and the education path to get to their goals.

Sierra College’s goal is to attract students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education and careers explained Carol-Pepper-Kittredge, Sierra College CACT director, who administers the Sierra STEM Collaborative. “College and high school instructors told us that they want to see labs, share projects and find out about other teaching tools,” said Pepper-Kittredge. “When college and high school instructors collaborate, many students benefit and it contributes to a smoother transition to college.”

The California Community College Chancellor’s Office awarded grants to Sierra College to create a pipeline of students prepared to fill the need for skilled technical employees. For information, go to www.sierraschoolworks.com or contact Carol Pepper-Kittredge, director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, Sierra College, at cpepper-kittredge@sierracollege.edu or (916) 660-7517.

Jonathon Schwartz of Colfax High School created the Fraction Contraption game and other similar math games and shared them with fellow teachers. He developed the idea of focusing on the Seven Math Essentials — measurement, fractions, ratios/proportions, probability, decimals, percent, and geometric

reasoning. Mastering these essentials predict success in Algebra and higher level math.

As students played the Fraction Contraption game for 10-15 minutes a day for 10 weeks, fraction fluency increased. Results of an informal field test involving 358 students in grades 3-9 indicate that participating students had an average gain of 22.8% on a fraction post-test over a pre-test.

March 2012 Teacher Comments on the Fraction Contraption Pilot Program

“The kids are really benefiting from the experience.”

“At the teacher workshops, I liked the time for grade level articulation as well as sharing of strategies and insights.”

“Sierra STEM provided great information and inspiration all throughout the year.”

“I appreciated the games and extensions of the lessons such as using the statistics from the reaction time game to make a bell curve.”

“The statistics and articles we were given shed the light on the importance of learning math.”

“I benefited from Jonathon sharing his strategies and tricks to integrate math into quick simple games.”

“I think having observers coming into my classroom was a good experience for the students to know that what they were doing was important to a ‘study.’”

“I liked sharing ideas with other teachers.”

“The interim get together enabled us to discuss strategies and problems.”

“Play! Using the Fraction Contraption is the best way to learn how to use it.”

“Jonathon was great at sharing his other games ideas with us.”

“It was good to hear from other teachers how they were using the game and addressing issues that arose.”

“The strongest elements were games to play, ideas on how to use it in class and the Seven Essentials – what they are and why they are important.”

Motivation to participate in the Fraction Contraption Pilot Project

“I wanted to increase my students’ fluency and competence in fractions, decimals and percents.”

“My primary motivation was to broaden fraction instruction.”

“I was trying to making learning such a ‘scary’ thing (Seven Math Essentials) fun and motivating for the students.”

“I wanted another way to help students develop understanding of fractions.”

The goals of the Sierra STEM project are to:

1) create a pipeline of engaged and highly prepared students entering Sierra College’s degree and certificate programs in Mechatronics, Engineering, Energy Technology, Welding, and Drafting & Engineering Support and,

2) build seamless pathways bridging secondary and post-secondary education in high wage, high demand occupations in engineering & design and manufacturing & product development sectors. Activities are organized around four primary objectives:

a) provide career exploration for middle and high school students,

b) strengthen CTE programs,

c) provide professional development, and

d) facilitate externship opportunities for teachers and faculty.

Through activities conducted under these goals, the project exposed 21,000 middle school and high school students to career choices; engaged over 1,000 high school students in new and updated engineering & design and manufacturing & product development courses; facilitated 4 teacher and faculty externships with business and industry; conducted 11 professional development workshops for more than 290 teachers and faculty, and provided access to 10 professional development opportunities for 14 teachers and faculty.

A fall 2011 survey of 188 Sierra College students taking CTE entry-level courses in Engineering, Mechatronics, Drafting & Engineering Support and Welding degree and certificate programs showed the pipeline’s early impact. Of high school students that took a Sierra STEM-supported course within the last three years, graduated, and then enrolled in one of five Sierra College CTE courses, the greatest impact on enrollment was seen in Drafting & Engineering Support (13%) and Welding (17%).

The Sierra College STEM Collaborative has provided support to this applied mathematics project.

Learn more at www.rhsgeometryinconstruction.org.