VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS
Back to Table of Contents for the On Course I Workshop
1. Strategy: Graduation Game (Ring Toss)
Application: Carpentry
Educator: Rodger Richerson, Faculty, Carpentry, San Joaquin Delta College, CA
Implementation: Most of my students need to learn self-management skills in their personal lives and career. I use the Graduation Game to reinforce how important it is to set a goal and take many short tosses to reach it. Once we have played the game, I guide students to see how goal setting and 3-foot tosses are the keys to building a building of any size. What they come to realize is that, by completing each part of a building one at a time–starting with the foundation, then the floor system, framing, roof framing, exterior siding, plumbing, electrical, and interior finishing–in small steps and in the right order, what appears to be a huge task is not that difficult after all.
2. Strategy: Jigsaw
Application: Vocational Trades, Automotive Services-Hydraulic power steering valving
Educator: Kevin Kalke, Associate Chair, Automotive Service Technician Apprenticeship program, NAIT (CN)
Implementation: Divide the class into groups of three with each person becoming the expert on one of the following:
- flow control valve
- pressure relief valve
- directional control value
Students have 30 minutes in class to research all they can about the valve. Experts all meet together to make sure that they understand the material before returning to their home groups to explain their valve’s function and the most important information about their valve. This activity changes my class from just lecturing about this information to more student participation and therefore more learning.
