We are always trying to find new ways of teaching the competencies required in the Construction Carpentry program. Sometimes, unique opportunities present themselves and we try and seize them to give our students “out–of-the-box” learning tasks. One of the best ways to learn is to teach, so when I was asked to make a few bird houses for one of Ormstown Elementary’s classes, I thought it might be a great way to pair the learning of the “box assembly” portion of the Cabinetry module, with at little school to school outreach.
In this case, the adult students spent a class making all the components of the birdhouses and dry-fitting them together using biscuits.
Once this was done, each adult student was paired with one from the elementary school and together they assembled the houses with glue and biscuits. The CVCEC students were required to “teach” the kids how to put the boxes together – hopefully a way to remember the process for themselves!!
In the end, everyone enjoyed themselves: adults and youth alike!
John Hodges,
Carpentry Teacher