The Construction Foundation of BC (CFBC) was on-site at the University of Victoria in late June to work with student-teachers on a day-long, Train the Trainer workshop that introduced Applied Design, Skills and Technology (ADST) and Design Thinking.
Participants, all of which are secondary school educators, were introduced to dice, smartphone holder and nerve tester projects, each with their own learning outcomes.
The group also discussed the importance of introducing skilled trades as a career option to students. Each were challenged to think about how to incorporate their areas of teaching into a hands-on learning activity or project.
“In these workshops, participants do hands-on work because a good portion of the students in schools are hands-on learners,” said CFBC Career Catalyst, Randy Grey. “We need to engage them and we need to tie in what we expect them to learn through their medium.”
An example of incorporating the projects introduced at the workshop into a traditional classroom setting can be found in the dice project. Once completed, the dice can have numbers added to them to use as a method for assisting students with their multiplication through hands-on learning as an alternative to the traditional method of textbooks and memorization.
“It’s extremely rewarding to go in and work with student-teachers because they’re just starting out their career and a lot of them don’t know what they can do or can’t do,” added Grey. “You can do just about anything in the classroom, such as doing some project work. What I’ve seen is that once these they learn how to use some tools, some equipment and make some projects they suddenly realize that, ‘Hey, I’m going to bring this into my classroom.’”
Online supports for educators are provided following workshops. Grey and CFBC have developed web resources that are continually updated and shared following Train the Trainer sessions.
For more information on the work being done by the Construction Foundation of BC and to donate, please visit www.constructionfoundation.ca.
