Empowering manufacturing personnel through functional understanding

A growing interest in organizational knowledge management, along with increasingly widespread adoption of Quality Standards such as ISO 9001, has increasingly led organizations to implement training programs for all employees. Training for the manufacturing workforce, however, remains limited to informal “On-the-Job” training, administered by peer colleagues or supervisors - particularly in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) where economic, educational, cognitive and cultural constraints to training are often deeply embedded. This paper proposes a methodology for training the manufacturing workforce on the functions of products and their constituent parts, and presents a case study conducted in a UK-based manufacturing SME - aiming to verify our two research hypotheses: Functional Analysis Diagrams (FAD) of the company’s products and parts would assist in knowledge assimilation; and, the knowledge assimilation has a positive effect on work quality and productivity levels. This intervention provided training on the purpose of the processes the participants are involved, aiming to empower them in supporting the optimization of these same processes. By using surveys and applying statistical inference on long-term quantitative data, the study confirmed subjective observations of substantial improvements in work quality (scrap reduction of 63%) and increased productivity (setup time reduced by 67%). To our knowledge, we were the first to examine the effect of functional modelling methods for workforce training in a manufacturing setup. Although this paper presents a single case study, the results suggest that the proposed methodology can be a promising solution for the industry

Teaching Ways and Learning Ways Revisited

In learning and teaching of languages, numerous theories have been put forward. These theories, normally influenced by developments in the fields of linguistics and psychology, have inspired several approaches to the teaching of second and foreign languages. This paper revisits English language teaching approaches, both traditional and modern, as well as learning styles and teaching styles. Such learning style models as The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model; the Felder-Silverman Learning Styles Model are explored in-depth in this paper. Keywords: teaching approach; learning style; teaching styl

How Gender Based Differences in Drawings of Preschoolers Can Help to Inform Preschool Visual Art Curriculum

The purpose of this classroom-based study was to explore the gender based differences in the free drawings of students at Beginnings Preschool. The researcher explored these patterns and their implications for the field of art education. Through the collection of free drawings created over the course of six, 15-minute sessions, the researcher studied patterns relating to students’ choice of content, use of color, and use of space within their drawings. Audio recordings of sessions and in-process photographs of student work provided supplemental data. Through an analysis of the data, the researcher found certain gender based patterns in preschool students’ choice of subject, use of color, and use of space. The work of male students tended to involve more adventure and conflict, whereas the work of female students tended to depict tranquil outdoor scenes or people living harmoniously. Drawings by male students were more likely to have a limited color palette and female students were more likely to use the bottom of the page as a ground line. Although gender based patterns were found, there were always several drawings by both males and females that did not fit the patterns. The researcher concludes by making recommendations for art educators based on the findings from this study and designed a unit plan that serves as an example of how to put those recommendations into practice

Trees and Water:Mainstreaming Environment in the Graduate Policy Analysis Curriculum

In this article, we describe and evaluate a teaching project embedded within a core policy analysis course that allows students to engage with a major public policy issue—in our case, environmental policy—without a corresponding cost in terms of reducing curricular space for developing general policy analysis skills. We think that a win-win arrangement is attainable: a fairly intense immersion into a key thematic area of public policy and a correspondingly more vivid, realistic, and integrated treatment of general policy analysis. The project has the potential to allow teachers and students to explore in depth and develop the skills and appreciation required for practice in any major policy area, even in tightly packed graduate policy programs.</p

Grade 8 students appropriating Sankey diagrams: The first cycle in an educational design research

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