THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9505310178
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Monique Walker and Montrez Wallace removed galvanized pipes and pipe joints from a cardboard box and started connecting them. After finding which parts didn't fit, they quickly figured out which did and fit them together so that water could flow through.
The two students were studying applied physics, although they probably wouldn't call it that. But they don't have to.
Montrez and Monique are second-graders at Bettie F. Williams Elementary School, not city engineers charged with getting real water to flow to real homes and businesses. The two are part of the recently developed technology education at the school.
The point of the course is not to teach students mere terminology, but to show them what careers exist, to connect their education experience to the marketplace, to allow them to see vocational possibilities. So said one of the program's driving forces, second-grade teacher Stacie Lawlor.
She got together last summer with Armand Taylor, coordinator for city schools engineering and technical programs, to develop the elementary sessions.
The eight second-grade classes at Williams go through the program, four at a time, for a 10-week rotation. They work in pairs, sit at modules, receive their work instruction via videotape from Lawlor. The students enter the portable classroom, slide the tape in the VCR, put on their headsets and once they've received the instructions, go to work.
``Surveys have indicated the students work harder when they're self-directed,'' said Lawlor. ``We allow them to explore on their own and gain hands-on experience.''
Applied physics is one of three divisions in the would-be workplace, said Sara Mundy, technical lab assistant at the school. The future workers also learn power and manufacturing/production. She helps the teachers supervise the students in their work with tools.
Mundy watched as Amanda Varney and Robert Sanderson manufactured a pair of shoes from a liter Coke bottle. They made a cut in the bottle and each child made three holes, or eyelets, with a punch. They ran string through the eyelets and Amanda added a feminine touch with brightly-colored bows.
Debbie Bergfield, one of two guidance counselors at Williams, described the principle of the technology program for children so young.
``We try to teach them, to show them that career development is a lifetime process. The sooner they become aware of opportunities, of likes and dislikes and what's out there, the better.
``They read about jobs and careers in the library. When they are ready to graduate, they should have a good idea. They will be aware of the demand for technological jobs in a global economy.''
Demetrius Reeder and Caitlin Treynor have spent time learning about solar panels, how energy from the sun, rather than an electric socket, can provide power to perform work.
``This is more fun than some of our classes,'' said Caitlin.
That can also be beneficial, said Lawlor.
``We had a student, a little boy who could barely read and write,'' she said. ``He wrote a paper on a project in here, one he did for our class, and now his language arts teacher has noticed he's improved in her class. He wants to write.
``That transferring of skills is important. It is important, too, to create an interest in jobs and careers, to teach them the terms of industry and technology, but we tell them the big thing is the process not the product. They need to learn teamwork and interdependence as well.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by GARY EDWARDS
Sara Mundy, a technical lab assistant at Bettie F. Williams
Elementary School, watches as second-graders Amanda Varney and
Robert Sanderson manufacture a pair of shoes from a liter Coke
bottle.
Monique Walker and Montrez Wallace ponder a technical problem aimed
at stirring the students' vocational development.
by CNB