Making Music through STEM: FLATE the NSF Center of Excellence to Host Guitar Building Workshop

TAMPA, Fla. - Aug. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- FLATE (http://www.fl-ate.org/), the Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Center of Excellence in Florida is partnering with the National STEM Guitar Project to host its first Guitar Building workshop for middle, high school and post-secondary educators at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) in Brandon, FL. The workshop will be held Aug. 4-8 and is fine-tuned to present and teach participants hands-on, applied learning techniques designed to engage and spark interest and excitement for STEM. The National STEM Guitar Project, in partnership with NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers with funding provided through a grant from NSF, hosts innovative Guitar Building Institutes around the United States.  The workshop will be the ONLY site in the Southeast to host this intense and innovative electric guitar design/build project.

Thomas Singer, principal investigator with STEM Guitar Project indicates “the faculty workshop is one way to rebuild the nation’s STEM workforce — beginning with teachers.” The goal of the STEM Guitar Building Institute is to showcase a new way to present learning for students with applied methods. During the workshop each participating STEM educator will build his/her own custom electric guitar and will engage in student centered learning activities that relate guitar designing to specific math, science and engineering topics.

They will also learn how different materials can be used to create various sounds and looks. Jim Cavanaugh, president of Cavanaugh Company in Sarasota, FL, will also address the teachers about some of the technologies and science involved in making world class guitars/strings at his high-tech manufacturing facility in Sarasota.

The last day of the Guitar Building Institute, called “Rock Star Friday,” a guitar-driven event where the newly built, customized guitars will be showcased and the educators are celebrated. At the end of five day workshop, teachers will be equipped to pass on energy, interest and new concepts to their students further motivating their students to learn about the STEM behind the music, technology, manufacturing and design. “Participants leave this weeklong experience with their custom-made guitars, curriculum modules with short term assessments that can be immediately integrated into the faculty team school curriculum” said Danielly Orozco, FLATE’s curriculum coordinator.

Educators who applied and are selected will receive free tuition and stipend to participate in the five-day Guitar Building Institutes. They begin with an online webinar 2 months prior to their workshop so they can arrive ready to start working.  After completion, all workshop attendees will be developing project based STEM lessons to deliver in their own classes and share with others.  Over the initial four year NSF grant period, the STEM Guitar Project has over delivered its objectives by recruiting 235 STEM faculty members to participate in Guitar Building Workshops around the country with an additional 335 faculty impacted via national education conferences.  Thus far, this effort is impacting over 4600 students nationally as a result of faculty members adopting or adapting the curriculum developed through the project.

For more information on the Workshop, contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org /813.259.6578, or visit www.fl-ate.org.

FLATE (http://www.fl-ate.org/)is a National Science Foundation Regional Center of Excellence, committed to ensuring Florida has a well prepared workforce for advanced and emerging technologies. Created in 2004, FLATE is one of 42 Advanced Technological Education Centers in the United States funded by the National Science Foundation focused on improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and training to meet the needs of American advanced technology industries. For more information visit www.fl-ate.org.