Shop class is more than hammer and nails
“It’s the better part of my day,” senior Brooklynn Underwood said as she carefully measured a piece of wood for a door. “No homework, and I actually learn something.”
Underwood is one of 24 seniors in Columbia Falls High School’s new triad building trades program, which blends English, math and hands-on skills building structures like the “bike barn” Underwood was working on with a half-dozen other students last week.
The entire program is geared toward learning real-life skills, industrial arts teacher Ken Stone said. The math, for example, centers on skills used in building.
“For some kids, the education process is lost,” Stone said. “They take a math class or an English class, and they don’t apply it.”
In the triad program, however, math is applied to tangible problems. To square a building, students need to know how to use the Pythagorean theorem. To build a set of stairs, they need to know algebra and solve for X. To properly space trusses, they need to figure out load-to-weight ratios, Stone explained.
It’s the same for English. Instead of an emphasis on creative reading and writing, students work on technical manuals and technical writing skills — skills they’ll need later in life if they pursue careers in the building and manufacturing trades. Stone doesn’t do it alone — Steve Osborne teaches math and Patience Burns teaches English.
The curriculum is fitted into a flexible three-hour block — pouring concrete, for example, can’t be taught in a 45-minute period, Stone noted. So one day, students could spend three hours in shop; other days, they make up the math and English lessons.
Currently the class is finishing up the bike barn, which the high school will use to house bikes for its after-school bike mechanics program. The next project, bolstered by an $8,000 Plum Creek Foundation grant, is to build four playhouses. The grant money will be used to buy materials. Three of the houses will be sold to raise money for next year, and the fourth will be donated to a local charity.
“It gives the students a sense of community,” Stone said. “We’re really fortunate we have Plum Creek as an employer and supporting member of the community.”
Students will also take field trips to job sites and other potential employers later this year, he noted.
Stone’s been teaching industrial arts at the high school for 13 years. He initially came up with the idea of the integrated curriculum with fellow industrial arts teacher Mark Beckwith, who is now retired. The school board got behind the idea last year, and the administration has been very supportive, Stone noted.
The school district is bucking a nationwide trend. In recent years, schools in California, Texas and other states have de-valued the industrial arts because colleges don’t value those skills for admission.
Equipment for a shop class is also expensive — a single lathe can cost $2,000, far more than a classroom of tables and chairs. Yet the U.S. has a skilled-trade shortage, according to some experts. A 2012 Forbes Magazine article notes that nationwide, 53 percent of skilled-trade workers were 45 years and older, and nearly 19 percent were between 55 and 65.
But the proof of the program’s worth comes from the students. About a half-dozen of the 24 students are girls, and they’re learning skills that at the very least may help them remodel their own home someday, or at best lead to a career. They really enjoy the experience.
“I love this class,” said Kyra Wilkerson as she worked on the door with Underwood. “The math applies to everyday life. This is geometry. The English is pretty easy. It’s usually about building trades.”