College of Engineering hosts 30 high school teachers for STEM training
Since its inception in 2006, the camp has had significant impact on high school science programs throughout the state, with nearly a dozen schools implementing materials science courses. Locally, schools that have integrated materials science classes include Westerville North, South, and Central; Upper Arlington, Thomas Worthington, Columbus City Schools (district wide), Newark, Trotwood-Madison, and Tolles Career Center.
According to Glenn Daehn, materials science and engineering professor at Ohio State and one of the camp organizers, the camp offers an important complement to traditional science education. “This is particularly critical, as most hands-on training has left academic high schools,” he said. “We need people who can both think and do, which is addressed in this program.”
This one-week, free educational workshop focuses on enriching, stimulating, and enhancing the technical competence and teaching skills of high school and middle school STEM teachers. Primary instructors are a team of experienced high school master teachers who have taught materials science courses for many years and helped develop this innovative approach to hands-on learning of applied science principles.
ASM Materials Camp, which was created by the ASM Materials Education Foundation, has helped train thousands of teachers across North America since 2002. More than 40 camps are being offered this summer alone at no cost to the teachers.
In addition to hands-on lab demos and lesson ideas for teachers to take back to their classrooms, the Ohio State camp also features world-class guest speakers. This week, Edison2 CEO and founder Oliver Kuttner spoke to participants. The advanced automotive company has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine.
Kuttner said his interest in science was first piqued in high school by two experiences—winning a physics project competition, and his auto mechanic course.
Now, years later, he and his Edison2 colleagues are the winners of the Automotive X-Prize for Fuel Economy and creator of The Very Light Car (VLC), a low-mass vehicle using mostly recyclable aluminum and steel, which is possibly the most efficient auto platform ever built.
Kuttner explained that the way in which people design machines, like the VLC, depends on the materials that go into them. Therefore, secondary education institutions need teachers like those attending ASM’s camp who have a desire to learn more about the science of materials and how to teach it so students are exposed to career paths like Kuttner’s.
The ASM camp also aims to spread awareness of the need for materials courses within secondary education as well as the challenges that teachers face when trying to implement that first materials course. Mandated state curriculum and testing can restrict the addition of new elective science courses. Funding and staffing can be an issue because most teachers have not completed any formal coursework in materials science and need training to create a syllabus, lesson plans, labs, and assessment methods.
“The ASM Materials Science Teachers Camp program has helped make me a lifelong learner and remain enthusiastic in my teaching,” Master Teacher Debbie Goodwin said. “The network of mentors I have gained through the camps is vast and includes engineers, professors and fellow high school teachers that I can call on anytime I have a question or need help. I am better equipped to guide my students in their learning and in their search for a STEM career pathway.”
Support for the ASM Camp at Ohio State is a collaborative effort, with funding support from the university, the ASM Materials Education Foundation, Battelle, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Center for Emergent Materials supported by NSF, the Honda-OSU Partnership, the NACE Foundation, and Edison Welding Institute.
