EMTECH Goals and Objectives

To meet the materials training and curriculum requirements of high school and community college technology instructors, this project will establish a curriculum and training center for Enhancement of  Materials Technology for Manufacturing (EMTECH) at Edmonds Community College (EdCC), Lynnwood, Washington.  The project is based on past experiences in the areas of curriculum development, teacher training and student programs in Materials Technology and participants’ input from related NSF ATE Projects.  We have demonstrated that Materials Science and Technology is an excellent tool to bring together academic and vocational instructors as mentioned earlier in the results of prior NSF support.  

Materials Technology and Science are topics that excite students' interest because the student has everyday, hands-on experience with materials.  Thus materials topics are great motivators in any engineering, technology or science course.  Materials are also a very important and an integral part of the manufacturing process.  Society needs to better understand the role of materials in everyday life.  Materials Science activities can also be used in both academic and vocational courses and thus assists in the transition for technology students across the high school-community college boundary.  We have demonstrated that that Materials Science and Technology is an excellent tool to bring together academic and vocational instructors. 

The major goal of EMTECH is to provide a national resource center to develop high school and community college technology instructors with sufficient background and understanding of materials manufacturing technology to serve as leaders in the effort of enhancing technology education in the U.S.  

The Center has the following objectives:

•  Provide instructors with an understanding of the principles and applications of materials as they are used in manufacturing technology

•  Introduce instructors to available curricula in materials technology

• Enhance and document materials technology curricula as required

•  Provide instructors with the broad perspective of materials and manufacturing as fields of study and as a potential career for their students

• Aid instructors in adapting available curricular modules for introduction directly into courses

• Provide a resource center for retrieval of materials curricula, and professional and industry contacts

• Enhance cooperation between high schools and community colleges through the development of interactive curricula and joint student projects with industrial mentors to provide a natural linkage between high school and community college for the students.

Upon completion of the EMTECH project, the following specific changes will be instituted:

• An organization to coordinate and disseminate Materials Science and Technology resources

• A trained set of Materials Science and Technology high school and community college instructors from across the U.S.

• New Materials Science and Technology programs initiated at high schools and community colleges

• An enhanced web site for dissemination of Materials Science and Technology resources

• network of professional and industry contacts to assist Materials Science and Technology instructors

•  Students and society with a greater awareness of the role of materials in their life and industry.

To meet its goal and objectives, EMTECH will provide the following programs:

•  Conduct training workshops and institutes on the principles and applications of materials as they are used in the manufacturing technology (A combination of one-week, three-week, one-day, and two-day workshops will be held each year for community college and high school teachers).

• Conduct training programs on special topics in materials utilizing resources at other institutions including universities, professional organizations, and industry

•  Co-sponsor special sessions at national science education and technology education conferences on materials in manufacturing curriculum

• Collect and disseminate resources on materials in manufacturing

• Provide web pages for educators to interact with others and to retrieve resources electronically

• Enhance Materials Science and Technology curriculum related to manufacturing for high schools and community colleges.

• Provide national experts to visit high schools and community colleges to promote materials in manufacturing

• Establish models to involve high school and community college instructors and students to assist in program articulation and to assist in the transition for technology students across the high school-community college boundary.

These programs will be established through three major tasks:  Training Workshops, Materials Resource Center, and Model Materials Laboratory