Welding lab hosts K-12 teacher-training program
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Photos by Larry D. Kauffman, digital publishing specialist/photographer
Teachers became students May 9-10, when Penn College’s welding faculty hosted its second Welding Teacher Training program, a seminar that provided educators in high schools and career and technical education centers with an opportunity to immerse in hands-on learning in the college’s Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center.
Ryan P. Good (right), assistant professor of welding, talks with welding educators outside a row of welding booths in the college’s 55,000-square-foot Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center.
“It’s a way for them to encourage students about what is out their beyond high school,” said James N. Colton II, assistant professor of welding. “It’s a good opportunity for them to collaborate with our faculty, other high school teachers and industry to see what others are doing.”
Twenty-three educators attended the event, which aimed to help them develop new curricula, course content and methods of welding instruction; integrate learning theories into the classroom; apply classroom management practices; implement evaluation and assessment techniques; and explore the value of certification.
The seminar was sponsored by Miller Electric, a longtime Penn College partner that is a member of the college’s Millionaires Society ($1 million-plus in giving).
Good offers hands-on instruction in the very topic of hands-on instruction.
Jacob B. Holland (right), instructor of welding, demonstrates a CNC press brake.
A teacher observes a piece of sheet metal coming off the brake.
Joanna McKelvey, an ag educator at Wilmington Area High School (which serves Lawrence and Mercer counties), sets the controls.