NCEA "technology". Is it total bullshit, or am I barking mad?

[Ixion]

..

Last year we got to belt the shit out of a lot of stuff though. I also had my hair catch on fire 3 times and I was electrocuted with 140 amps. Great fun

Ah, that's encouraging, sounds like things I remember. But , in that case, why are they saying that boys are not achieving ? Hair on fire 3 times AND electrocuted, that sounds pretty cool to me. I'll go do some more research.

(Do you mean you actually get to make the car? And it has to work? )

[BuFfY]

The curriculum is for teachers... we spend a lot of time looking through them so that everyone in the country has the same opportunity and learns basically the same principles. The curriculum is a teachers best friend!

We get issued a copy when we are studying. I am sure if you go to the learning media website you could have a look through it as they are the ones who published it.

In regards to the teaching processes in schools... the curriculum is set out in a behaviourist way... in the terms that it is formally assessed etc etc... It is not the governments fault as to how we teach... it is the individual teachers fault

[Blackbird]

Now, back in the day, I knew what Metalwork and Woodwork were about. Personally, I got stuck in an academic stream , and didn't get as much time as I'd have liked at them, but what there was, was good. You got to make things, and use machines, and hit things with hammers and all such good guy type stuff. And the kids in the tech stream got pretty good at it, and mostly seemed to enjoy it. And came out of it when they left school, with some good skills and a good base for an apprenticeship or whatever.

I'd guess we're of a similar age Les as I share those views. After school, I did a fitting/turning apprenticehip before going to university and also picked up some post-grad quals after coming to NZ. I'd like to think that the "old-fashioned" metalwork and tech drawing learned at school prompted me to go further but I have some doubts whether the current curriculum would have done so. All I can say is that I'm glad our kids are well out of the school system.

As a parting shot, a certain Associate Minister of Education was my next door neighbour a few years back. He was also the architect of "modern apprenticeships". I shudder to think how much damage that person caused to the country. He was an ex-school inspector which says it all.

[Ixion]

Precisely!! What good is a bunch of theories to a boy? Give a boy a tree and watch what he does. Now put another boy in front of the same tree BUT first tell him to draw piccies of it, plan his way to the top when he climbs it, take note of the difficult bits and how to overcome them AND then describe what he achieved from the 'process'....yea fuckn right....I'll show you a boy who will say to himself "fuck that" and promptly switch off until the lunch bell goes.
..

But surely the thing is , that crap is NOT the theory of how to climb a tree? In my day, we still had to do theory. But it was the theory of what you actually DID , not a lot of bullshit about how you felt about it, and what you learned from the "process". It's too long ago , I can't remember much of the theory , but I do recall stuff about change gears, and case hardening, and how steel changes colour. And different alloys and their composition, and what they were used for. Useful stuff.

The theory of tree climbing would be about the best way to get up the tree, what to watch out for with rotten branches and such like.

[sAsLEX]

I also had my hair catch on fire 3 times and I was electrocuted with 140 amps. Great fun

Interesting.......

Table 1. Estimated Effects of 60 Hz AC Currents
1 mA Barely perceptible
16 mA Maximum current an average man can grasp and "let go"
20 mA Paralysis of respiratory muscles
100 mA Ventricular fibrillation threshold
2 Amps Cardiac standstill and internal organ damage
15/20 Amps Common fuse or breaker opens circuit*

*Contact with 20 milliamps of current can be fatal. As a frame of reference, a common household circuit breaker may be rated at 15, 20, or 30 amps.

[yungatart]

hXc wanted to do Trade Skills this year- Level 1- too many kids in that class so , as he is a capable lad, he was put in to another option, similar but more focused on the academic stuff. He really just wanted to make a few things, useful or not, do some hands-on stuff as all his other classes are academic. It turns out that of the 24 credits available in that subject, 20 of them are awarded on his design folder, only 4 from the product he actually makes.
Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?- And it certainly doesn't meet his needs for an "easy" physical class.

[Coyote]

Ah, that's encouraging, sounds like things I remember. But , in that case, why are they saying that boys are not achieving ? Hair on fire 3 times AND electrocuted, that sounds pretty cool to me. I'll go do some more research.

(Do you mean you actually get to make the car? And it has to work? )

I'm afraid it's not a real car. It's roughly 1/20th scale. I hope to make some custom fibreglass fairings with the skills I've learnt though

I'm not sure how many people are really failing. I had a pretty good teacher last year that kicked out the trouble makers. We ended up with about 12 people in class out of an original 25 or so, and most of them are in my class this year

And most people haven't been as blessed as I have to be set on fire and electrocuted. That's generally because everyone has more common sense than I do

[Coyote]

Interesting.......

I say 140 amps as that's what the mig welder claimed it's output to be. And the current went through my hand. As far as I'm aware it's across the heart that's fatal. Apparently there was a rather large bolt of blue lightning which I didn't see since I had the welding mask on. Sure felt it though

[MSTRS:Me]

But surely the thing is , that crap is NOT the theory of how to climb a tree? In my day, we still had to do theory. But it was the theory of what you actually DID , not a lot of bullshit about how you felt about it, and what you learned from the "process". It's too long ago , I can't remember much of the theory , but I do recall stuff about change gears, and case hardening, and how steel changes colour. And different alloys and their composition, and what they were used for. Useful stuff.

The theory of tree climbing would be about the best way to get up the tree, what to watch out for with rotten branches and such like.

Praps not the best analogy, but sentiment remains....boys are hands-on, learn-by-mistake creatures as a rule and not terribly interested in any other way of learning.

[Ixion]

I actually found this on the website of my old school

YEAR 12 VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY 12VTE
Qualification NCEA Level 2 credits
UNITEC Certificate for the Automotive Industry

Pre-requisite At the discretion of the HOD.
Main area of study Building a sports car(s) from raw materials.
This is a general engineering course, focussing on mechanics and fabrication.
Learning strategies Although the course is mainly practical, unit standards have a theory component that is tested each term.
Assessment Unit Standards
16113 Safe working practices [2 credits]
228 Hand tools [5 credits]
229 Identify automotive systems [5 credits]
231 Operations of 2 and 4 stroke petrol and diesel engines
[4 credits]
Cost/Equipment $40.00

Now, that looks about as cool as you could get I reckon. If they'd had courses like that when I was at school, every boy in the school would have been clamouring to get into them.

I mean BUILDING A SPORTS CAR ! (Well, yeah a sports BIKE would be better, but still).

So, if this is what boys are studying, how come the chickies are doing better at it. Wot givez? Is it a selection thing, that only a few girls take such courses, and they are the ones who are super keen and have a real natural apptitude? I remember when I worked in the diesel servicing industry, there was one wrench wench and she was universally acknowledged as the best mechanic in the company. Just cos she loved the work so much, and had such a natural gift for it.

[Coyote]

hXc wanted to do Trade Skills this year- Level 1- too many kids in that class so , as he is a capable lad, he was put in to another option, similar but more focused on the academic stuff. He really just wanted to make a few things, useful or not, do some hands-on stuff as all his other classes are academic. It turns out that of the 24 credits available in that subject, 20 of them are awarded on his design folder, only 4 from the product he actually makes.
Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?- And it certainly doesn't meet his needs for an "easy" physical class.

Guess it does defeat the purpose, but it worked out for me as the project I worked on, a pit stand for the CBR, was bunged up by the drill press but I got full marks since I was able to write down what the problem was and what I could do again to make that project work.

[Ixion]

I say 140 amps as that's what the mig welder claimed it's output to be. And the current went through my hand. As far as I'm aware it's across the heart that's fatal. Apparently there was a rather large bolt of blue lightning which I didn't see since I had the welding mask on. Sure felt it though

It's low voltage, which is why it's not fatal. I've had a few belts from a welder, they stir you up, but no more. Still cool but, especially if you got a lightning bolt.

[Coyote]

I actually found this on the website of my old school


Now, that looks about as cool as you could get I reckon. If they'd had courses like that when I was at school, every boy in the school would have been clamouring to get into them.

I mean BUILDING A SPORTS CAR ! (Well, yeah a sports BIKE would be better, but still).

So, if this is what boys are studying, how come the chickies are doing better at it. Wot givez? Is it a selection thing, that only a few girls take such courses, and they are the ones who are super keen and have a real natural apptitude? I remember when I worked in the diesel servicing industry, there was one wrench wench and she was universally acknowledged as the best mechanic in the company. Just cos she loved the work so much, and had such a natural gift for it.

Holy crap!? There's such a class?!?!?! Why was I not told!??!?!

There are no girls in my metalwork class. We had a few in year 10 that were only there to get with the rugby players

[MSTRS:Me]

Guess it does defeat the purpose, but it worked out for me as the project I worked on, a pit stand for the CBR, was bunged up by the drill press but I got full marks since I was able to write down what the problem was and what I could do again to make that project work.

My point.....you worked out what went wrong and how not to repeat that AFTER making a (hands-on) mistake

[Coyote]

It's low voltage, which is why it's not fatal. I've had a few belts from a welder, they stir you up, but no more. Still cool but, especially if you got a lightning bolt.

I thought it was the amps that kill you? That's why you can die from 240V at a power plug but only be paralysed by 20,000V or something from a Taser