An Advanced Manufacturing Workshop for High-School Teachers and Students

Presented in this paper is an analysis of the experience of teaching advanced manufacturing technology to groups of teachers at a workshop sponsored by NSF during the summer of 2004 at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The purpose of the workshop was to expose teachers to manufacturing technology in the hope of impacting the career choices of their students. Some high school students also participated in the workshop. The material presented in the workshop included CAD modeling, rapid prototyping, and lean manufacturing. Some industrial representatives came to the workshop to interact with the teachers and students on the prospectives of advanced manufacturing technologies. The participants also toured manufacturing research laboratories on campus and two local manufacturing facilities. This paper details the experiences of both the participants and facilitators of the workshop