WALKING THE LINE
The Honda automobile manufacturing plant in Marysville doesn’t usually open its doors to school groups, but recently they made an exception for Metro’s students.
All of the history classes had the opportunity to visit and tour the production and assembly line to see the results of technological advances that occurred during the industrial revolution and beyond. That topic was introduced during the first trimester when the students visited Battelle to observe the impact of technology in America over the past century.
Honda representatives rolled out the red carpet for us and provided further inspiration for students to consider engineering as a future career. I was lucky to tag along, and I found the production line fascinating.
We observed stamping, (where molds as large as rooms were cutting parts out of huge sheets of metal), welding (with sparks flying around just like at Red, White and Boom!), plastic injection molding, assembly, testing and finally the new cars rolling off the line to be driven out onto the test course.
A student’s impressions are relayed in an excerpt from an article he wrote for the “Metro Voice” online school paper:
Most people think the wave of the future will include androids like they see in the movies Star Wars and I, Robot. They might be right. That idea is not far off from what the second-year students saw as they visited the Honda Marysville Auto Plant.
The students received a quick briefing on what Honda is and how engineering is incorporated. After the introduction, it was time for the tour. Students had to wear safety goggles and headphones with battery packs to hear the tour guide’s voice over the loud plant. Students saw how robots manufacture the cars that are driven today.
– Brandon Klein
During a post-tour lunch, students were encouraged to ask questions to employees about the workings of the plant, the variety of jobs and what type of education they require. As usual, the Metro kids impressed me with their thought-provoking insights. I could tell the Honda folks were impressed as well—they have already scheduled a visit and tour of Metro this month so the students can return the favor!
- - Posted February 28, 2008 - -
Diana Wolterman is on a two-year special assignment to Metro High School, where she will play a key role in furthering the collaboration between the private sector and education, including special projects to connect Battelle staff with the activities in the school, assisting with tours and visits, developing and implementing new experience-based curriculum support, and helping to document the process of creating a new STEM-focused learning experience. Diana also will document Battelle’s successes and missteps at Metro to help the organization learn from the experience and make good decisions going forward at Metro and in other educational activities.