FLATE Newsletter
FLATE's Executive Director Celebrates Manufacturing in Florida
Happy New Year! Before we move forward with new year’s resolutions, let’s take a quick trip through last year. Manufacturing in the US was a big story in the U.S. press in 2011. Manufacturing’s strategic role in our economy was highlighted, and brought to national attention. Americans are looking to manufacturing to move the economy forward. The Manufacturing Institute’s website (www.themanufacturinginstitute.org) captured and shares some important facts that put numbers to the issue, and are reprinted in the accompanying box. These 5 concise bullets are a shorthand reminder of why manufacturing is important and why FLATE is focused on building the high skilled, educated workforce that Florida manufacturers need. Additionally, manufacturing was identified as a driver of innovation, invention, and new technologies and processes that keep the U.S. competitive in the global community. From the White House, the President launched several initiatives to support and enhance U.S. manufacturing. These included establishing the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a consortium of research institutions and universities that will focus cutting-edge and new technologies that support advanced modern manufacturing.
Spring STEM Events
There are lots of opportunities for students to get involved with extracurricular STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)-related competitions this spring. Science and engineering Fairs; robotic competitions; inventor competitions; technology education competitions; engineering expos offer students of all levels the opportunity to explore a STEM topic that interests them in a creative way; use logical thinking; practice their verbal presentation skills, and integrate what they learn in many of their courses in a “capstone” project. In today’s pedagogical lingo, these kinds of activities are categorized as problem-based or project-based learning (PBL), anchored instruction, or collaborative learning.
Sometimes this approach is used in classrooms as illustrated in many of Florida’s Career Academies, but it is certainly the approach of most of extra curricula competitions. Some schools and school districts take a very formal approach to some of these competitions by offering clubs and other after school opportunities to help students prepare for the whole experience. On the other extreme, some districts and schools require no participation or support. Some question if these should be part of academic curriculum – but wonder where it would fit into the curriculum; who would be credentialed to teach it; and if and how it would support state standardized testing.
