High School Students Learning STEM Skills in Guitar-making Class
North Edgecombe High School students are learning STEM skills by making guitars in an 麻豆传媒映画 class under way at the high school. From left, students are Taye Jones, Misael Lopez, Naz Warren, Myia Jones, Tremayne Pittman, and Devontae Jones.
When Myia Jones signed up for 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 new guitar-making class at North Edgecombe High School, she was looking for something easy to fill a free period.
But what the seventeen-year-old senior got was so much more than an underwater basket-weaving course.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a good math person, but we can work at our own pace,鈥 Jones says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think it would be this interesting, but we鈥檙e learning about a lot of different things. It鈥檚 great.鈥
The class steers students toward STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), combining these philosophies with the arts, says Doug Parrish, instructor and 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 chair of Industrial and Technical Trades.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been eye-opening for me to be able to bring together STEM components into making a solid body guitar,鈥 Parrish says. 鈥淚 think it adds to the coolness factor of math and science.鈥
Parrish admits that there鈥檚 a preconceived notion among young people today that STEM subjects are too difficult, not applicable, and boring. But by showing students how math and science play a huge role in building something as hip as a guitar, Parrish hopes to dispel these myths.
鈥淭eaching STEM courses with innovative approaches such as the National Science Foundation STEM Guitar Project takes away some of the stigma and enables the instructors to actively engage the learners in an extended exercise that shows how heavily involved STEM subjects are in everyday life,鈥 Parrish says.
And that鈥檚 the point of the class 鈥 to generate excitement among students in the world of STEM, especially those who often struggle with math or science subjects.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what wet sanding was before I took this class, but this is great,鈥 Jones says. 鈥淚鈥檓 learning a lot of things about math and science.鈥
Electronics, chemistry, biology, physics, structural engineering, and geometry all go into building a guitar. Students also learn about computer-aided design (CAD), string tension, and a variety of other mathematical concepts related to STEM.
鈥淲e start out with guitar body blanks,鈥 Parrish explains. 鈥淲e look at the wood hardness and grain pattern, how easily some woods splinter, and how oily other woods are.
鈥淲hen we get to the necks, there鈥檚 tons of math in the fret spacing.鈥
This is the first semester for the class, in which six students 鈥 five seniors and a junior 鈥 meet for two hours a day at North Edgecombe High School.
For now, Parrish is using guitar kits in the class. But eventually he intends for students to build guitars from scratch in an effort to implement more woodworking and carpentry into the class.
鈥淪TEM courses are still heavily associated with the old model of manufacturing where jobs are dirty, menial, and dangerous,鈥 Parrish says.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 engineering, technical, and manufacturing facilities are more high-tech and much cleaner, and the pay for mid-skills employees can be quite lucrative.鈥