Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/214203
than a year's worth of planning and collaboration between the school district, the Alliance and several of its members including KI, Sargento Foods and Ariens Company. The program will be rolled out for feedback to select educators in mid-November, with an in-classroom date scheduled after that. "Manufacturing is partnering with education to say, 'You know what? We need to prepare kids for whatever they go into,'" says Derek Lineberry, Sargento Foods' production manager for shredded products. "These are some of the things manufacturing sees as critical for future success, whether it's math, troubleshooting…What can education do to help get these (kids) ready to come to the industry and be successful?" Get Real Math is a three-part program that introduces the workworld problem in a video prompt that asks students to consider a challenge, such as how to build a chair. The next phase of the program asks students to think critically about the problem: Recoveron Industrial & Facility Services What do we know? What do we have to work with? What do we need to know to solve this problem? According to Marie Kubichek, secondary mathematics curriculum coordinator for GBAPS, Get Real Math emphasizes the application of math to actual problems faced by real businesses on a daily basis. "Real-world problems are inherently a little messy," says Kubichek, explaining that educators want to emphasize to students the use of soft skills such as problem solving and critical thinking. "Bosses say make this many chairs, and then you're left with this (problem). How do I do this? You have to be able to look at novel problems and say, 'Do I have all the information I need?' Most of the time, we don't. It's about asking questions and making assumptions." The final stage of the program shows the students the end result: how real companies actually solved the issue. "The problems are real problems," says Ann Franz, NEW Manufacturing Alliance coordinator. "The companies did not just make (these) out of the air; they are real math problems they have every single day." "It makes a lot of sense: what we're working on (for Get Real Math) are real life questions we deal with every day," Lineberry says. "(Get Real Math) is a tool to show kids, you sit in math class, go through all these problems, and think, am I ever going to use this? (The program) shows examples of percentages and calculations in real-life applications." While Get Real Math is intended to close the gap between the classroom and college or career for students, it's also attempting to meet employers' needs by showcasing manufacturing careers. "There's a stereotype that manufacturing is a dirty, dungeony place," says Andy Bushmaker, human resources manager for KI. "One benefit (of Get Real Math) continued > No, he didn't win the lottery. But he did get the Dust Control Deep Cleaning Floor Programs Painting Construction Projects Specialty Projects smart solutions he needed at Moraine Park. You can too. 24/7 Emergency Services Water Mitigation Fire Mitigation * Services compliant with OSHA, AIB, SQF & BRC standards PERFORMANCE-MINDED BUSINESS SOLUTIONS 800-884-0588 PERFORMANCE-MINDED BUSINESS SOLUTIONS www.recoveron.com training@morainepark.edu 920-924-3449 morainepark.edu/training Six Sigma I Leadership & Supervision I Technical Skills I Customized Training Solutions I Strategic Development w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m November 2013 • / insight on manufacturing | 15