Sparking curiosity.
Impacting futures.
As an educator, you have the opportunity to open students’ eyes to new academic areas that can lead to exciting career paths.
Engineering Your Future is an educational program designed to introduce students to the prospects of a career in engineering and welding engineering. The program was developed to complement a variety of subjects, including math, science, and industrial technology.
The American Welding Society (AWS) Foundation and The National Center for Welding Education and Training (Weld-Ed) are thrilled to offer this proven program in a new digital format – making it easier and more convenient to incorporate Engineering Your Future into your classroom.
Overview of the program
Engineering Your Future provides a unique science experience that points out the ever-increasing relationships among science, technology, and society. These relationships have generated an increased need for science-based occupations, including welding engineers.
The program is designed for grades junior high and above, and aims to excite students about some of the natural laws of physics and their application in the technological world in which we live while perhaps guiding them to consider science-based careers.
Download workshops
Engineering Your Future consists of 12 student workshops (activities) and accompanying teaching information. The workshops emphasize hands-on learning and the use of higher-order thinking skills. Each workshop provides students with information about science and technology, along with an opportunity to apply that information.
Use the Engineering Your Future workshop selection tool to identify and download student workshop materials based on your desired objectives, science concepts, and process skills.
If you are using the program for the first time, we recommend downloading the Teacher’s Guide for All Workshops and the Curriculum Relationship Chart.
How to use the program
Click the arrow to read more about each category.
01. Content & Teaching Methodology
Engineering Your Future centers around the properties of materials, especially as they relate to resistance to various kinds of stress. The process of experimenting, including analyzing and communicating data, is a major part of the program.
This design is based on the pedagogically sound practices of teaching a few things well and presenting the same information in various contexts. For example, if some students do not fully grasp the idea of types of stress and load in Workshop 1, you can still advance to subsequent workshops, as these concepts are presented in various contexts throughout the program.
Although the workshops build upon one another, several workshops can stand alone. Workshop 6, for example, provides an excellent opportunity for following and checking specifications. This workshop can be completed by students who have not mastered the previous workshops.
02. Vocabulary
Engineering Your Future uses terms that usually appear in science text discussions of these concepts. All terms are defined, and many opportunities are provided to apply terms in the context of a concrete activity. Significant terms are repeated in subsequent workshops.
03. Materials
All workshops, except for workshops 1, 4, and 5, require gathering materials beforehand. Most of the necessary materials are easy to find or make. Materials that you may not have available, such as metal samples and wood, can be found in most hobby or craft stores. Other materials, such as paraffin, can be found in most variety stores.
04. Cooperative learning
These workshops are designed for two or more students to work together as a team. The open-ended quality of many of the workshops makes them especially suitable for cooperative learning. Students will enjoy this low-pressure opportunity to work together to solve problems.
These workshops can be used in a variety of ways, including:
- Classroom activities to supplement the regular science curriculum
- Integrated into the existing curriculum
- Mini-class series for special groups
- Assigned as extra-credit homework assignments
05. Safety
While none of the workshops are inherently dangerous for students, safety precautions must be taken at all times.
- Several of the workshops require safety glasses
- Please follow the cautions that appear in the teacher’s guides and student pages
- Teachers should always set a good example, such as taking time to put on safety glasses when called for
- Review appropriate classroom safety rules before each workshop
06. Evaluation
The teacher’s guides provide answers to questions posed in the workshops. The workshops also include several open-ended questions. This program emphasizes independent thinking and provides opportunities for students to practice higher-order thinking skills. Since the experiments may not have a single correct answer, the responses may vary from group to group.
Acknowledgments
AMERICAN WELDING SOCIETY FOUNDATION
Executive Director, Monica Pfarr
AMERICAN WELDING SOCIETY
Executive Director, Gary Konarska
WELD-ED
Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. W. Richard Polanin
Center Director, Michael Fox
WELD-ED REGIONAL CENTERS
Chattanooga State Technical College
College of the Canyons
Illinois Central College
Lorain County Community College
North Dakota State College of Science
The Ohio State University
Weber State University
Yuba College
TECHNICAL REVIEWER
The Hobart Institute of Welding Technology
400 Trade Square East
Troy, Ohio