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Award Abstract # 1601359
Creating a High School Pipeline for the Next Generation of Manufacturing Employees

NSF Org: DUE
Division Of Undergraduate Education
Recipient: KENTUCKY COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM
Initial Amendment Date: April 12, 2016
Latest Amendment Date: November 9, 2017
Award Number: 1601359
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: John Jackman
DUE
 Division Of Undergraduate Education
EDU
 Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date: April 15, 2016
End Date: March 31, 2020 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $458,319.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $458,319.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2016 = $458,319.00
History of Investigator:
  • Modestos Modestou (Principal Investigator)
    modestos.modestou@kctcs.edu
  • Eric Anderson (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • David Alsip (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Bartley Johnson (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Edward Milum (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Bartley Johnson (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: U of Kentucky Madisonville Community College
2000 COLLEGE DR
MADISONVILLE
KY  US  42431-9185
(270)824-8633
Sponsor Congressional District: 01
Primary Place of Performance: Hopkins County Career Technology Center
1775 Patriot Drive
Madisonville
KY  US  42431-2165
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
01
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): EC93ZNLMVRP9
Parent UEI: EC93ZNLMVRP9
NSF Program(s): Advanced Tech Education Prog
Primary Program Source: 04001617DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s): 1032, 9150, 9178, SMET
Program Element Code(s): 741200
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.076

ABSTRACT

Madisonville Community College and the Hopkins County Career Technology Center are collaboratively delivering a manufacturing certificate program that prepares students for the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council's (MSSC) Certified Production Technician exam and employment as process technicians. The project's intellectual merit lies in attracting high school students into manufacturing education, which research suggests they and their parents are not presently considering. The dual credit manufacturing program is familiarizing students with modern manufacturing and changing their perceptions regarding its desirability as a career. The project's broader impact involves the dissemination of improved marketing techniques that are increasing the number of students enrolling in postsecondary STEM-based manufacturing programs, entering the STEM workforce, and pursing further STEM education. The project is also evaluating a modularized curriculum and hybrid online delivery model that effectively shares complex, expensive technician training resources between secondary and postsecondary educational institutions and efficiently allocates faculty time and effort. This model is especially impactful for smaller secondary and postsecondary institutions in rural settings with limited human and fiscal resources who wish to launch innovative technical programming.

The project is evaluating the effectiveness of MCC's marketing of its manufacturing curricula to high school students and making adjustments as necessary. It is also evaluating the use of experiential advising techniques such as industry mentoring. Additionally, it is using a "hybrid" online delivery model for dual credit programming that effects operational benefits for both partners. Finally, it advances the partners' existing efforts to address workplace readiness skills such as effective self-management, communication skills, teamwork, dependability and work ethic.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

Madisonville Community College (MCC) and Hopkins County Career Technology Center (CTC) collaborated to create a dual credit advanced manufacturing career pathway delivered using a hybrid online model. The project's most successful elements were the use of a career counselor to provide dedicated technical education counseling for pathway students and implementation of the NSF-funded STEM Guitar capstone project.

The career counselor ensures that they successfully matriculate through and complete the pathway. This was especially important to this project, where MCC uses a semester scheduling schema, while the CTC uses a trimester schema. By the end of the project, enrollment in the pathway far exceeded the project goals, in large part because of the work of the career counselor. The Hopkins County School District elected to sustain the counselor position in the post grant period, and other high schools that are now adapting and implementing the model with MCC are using their own career counselors to ensure successful implementation.

The STEM Guitar project was developed over 20 years ago using NSF funding. It teaches STEM competencies in the context of building a solid body electric guitar. In this project, STEM Guitar was added as a capstone activity in the last class in the pathway. The partners observed a signficant jump in pathway enrollment after the first cohort of students completed their guitars. The partners believe that STEM Guitar is an effective means of marketing an advanced manufacturing curriculum, as the project was covered by multiple stories in The Messenger, the daily newspaper for Madisonville.

The CTC faculty successfully implemented a second project-based assignment, fabricating 57 "bit bins" for a regional coal mine. The mining company supplied the materials - including 25 tons of steel - for the bins, and students used the manufacturing techniques they were learning to create the bit bins, which are now being used in the coal mines.

Both project-based assignments were used to teach personal effectiveness skills (PES; sometimes called "soft skills") to students alongside curriculuar content.  The CTC was able to leverage work done by MCC in creating assignments designed to develop PES and a rubric used to evaluate them. The partners determined that the project was effective in improving students' PES.

Finally, as previously noted, two other high schools in MCC's service area are now adapting and implementing the dual credit advanced manufacturing pathway, using lessons learned from the Hopkins County CTC project.


Last Modified: 04/01/2020
Modified by: Modestos Modestou

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