Students work together for real world experience

Spencerport High School students in Joe Gallina’s Computer Aided Design (CAD) class are seeing their ideas come to life in the hands of Precision Machining students at the WE-MO-CO Career and Technical Education Center.

For two years, Precision Machining Teacher Al DiProspero has been collaborating with Gallina to give their students a real world experience. The Spencerport CAD students draw an Industrial Parts Drawing, then send the drawing to the Precision Machining shop at CTE where a Precision Machining student reviews the drawings and creates the part. “My students need to interpret the drawings. They need to understand the views of the print, the dimensions and tolerances the part must be held to all before turning on a machine,” said DiProspero. “They also offer feedback to the Spencerport student if something is missing or a dimension is wrong.” This enables the students at Spencerport to see if their part can be built according to the specifications or if they need to make a change. “My students are getting a better understanding of what happens in a production environment,” said Gallina. “This allows us to check specifications, check for quality control and to communicate with the production line on any problems that might occur.”

This project incorporates math, technology, English language arts and career standards as students are learning the different steps involved and the many hands that touch a product as it goes from idea to implementation. As DiProspero’s students are fabricating the part, they communicate with the Spencerport students via email to problem-solve, incorporating technical writing skills into the project.

December 17, 2006