Westfield Vocational Technical selected as a model school STEM Program

kristielAll Topics, fischertechnik, STEM Education

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Westfield Vocational TechnicalIn case you missed the big news that was all over the wire services and the internet a week or so back, Studica recently selected Westfield Vocational Technical High School to act as a model school for the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program. As you probably know from our past blog postings, the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program incorporates the state-of-the-art fischertechnik construction system with detailed, step-by-step curriculum specifically crafted to address current academic standards, including the Common Core Standards. Essentially, the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program provides schools with all of the materials they need to offer a fully integrated, hands-on, project based learning program. We will be following the progress of the students at Westfield as they work their way through the curriculum, and of course share their experiences with you here.

Westfield Vocational Technical High School

Tom White and Mr. Roberts

To give you a bit of background on Westfield Vocational Technical High School: The school was founded in 1911, and is located in Hampden County, which is in the western part of Massachusetts. Since the school's inception, they have been focused on providing essential career and technical skills. This focus continues at Westfield today, where via their modern industry-standard vocational education facility, they strive to prepare students with the tools needed to enter the current industrial workforce. The school has a total enrollment of about 480 students, who have the opportunity to participate in numerous challenging academic areas. Some of the elective courses offered at the school include Forensics, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, Pre-calculus, Anatomy, and Physiology. Students also have the opportunity to take part in programs which offer dual enrollment at colleges and universities, and in addition to earning a high school diploma, graduating seniors are also eligible for industry credits. The eleven career-technical programs offered at the school span the range from Allied Health, to Programming and Web Development, and from Culinary Arts, to Collision Technology.

The implementation of the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program at the school is being spearheaded by Principal Stefan Czaporowski, and by Science teacher David Roberts. While we selected Westfield as our model school in large part because of their rich history and reputation, we were also highly impressed and encouraged by the enthusiasm of both Stefan and Dave, and their desire to be able to bring this cutting-edge STEM program to their students.

Program creator Tom White personally visited the school last month to meet with Mr. Roberts, to provide training and support, and go over how the program will unfold. Currently, the school will begin by offering the program to the sophomore class this year, with plans to expand this to the junior class the following year.

Today, Dave shared a pair of photographs showing the students as they began to explore and sort the fischertechnik parts themselves. Early reports are that the students are also very excited to begin this program that steers away from the standard textbook and lecture format, and instead puts the emphasis on hands-on exploration of how things work, and devising unique solutions. As Dave Roberts said in an email, "They love the freedom to make their own decisions".

fischertechnik STEM lab program in actionWe look forward to sharing the experiences and thoughts of Dave Roberts and his students as they progress through the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program. Look for updates in future blog posts. Meanwhile, if you'd like to know more about the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program, and how you can bring this innovative tool to your school, please contact us at [email protected], or call us at (888) 561-7521. On that note, until next time, happy building!

Author: Lance Zurek

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