Industrial Arts Curriculum Project

(IACP)

Kevin Yahn

TED 502

StateUniversityCollege at Oswego

Fall 2003

Introduction

The Industrial Arts Curriculum Projects also known as the (IACP) holds arguably the most significant impact on the field of Technology Education as we know it today. In a time when Industrial Arts education was still under the cloud of its manual training base, the Industrial Arts Curriculum Project sought to bring the field into the classification as the other core liberal subjects. The project was based on learner knowledge, in which it prepared youth for a society that was very largely shaped at the time by industrial technology.

This project was designed as two-one year courses to be taught at the junior high school level. The IACP used not only the beliefs of its directors, but was heavily influenced by the input of leaders in both the manufacturing and construction industries. At the time, the field of industrial arts held no common ground in the curriculum from school district to school district, yet the standards that were in place were simply outdated and were hard to differ from manual training. The IACP sought to produce a common curriculum for all school districts to follow, and using its broad industry based curriculum it sought to bring industrial arts into the liberal core of the junior high school level. Having it hold the same type of liberal education as English, Math, Science or Social Studies classes would.

In this paper, it is the intention of the author to provide the reader with an overall significance of the Industrial Arts Curriculum Project to the field of Technology Education as it stands today. There were many reasons behind the implementation of the IACP, which needed to be resolved in order for future survival of the field. This project was a large group effort in which many school districts participated and thus made the project possible. All of the participants helped in the design of the project and also much influence came from the construction and manufacturing industries to insure that the information being taught was not only true, yet current. Through this paper the actual workings of the IACP will be discussed with regards to funding, standardization, objectives and learner outcomes, ways for constant upgrades, and finally teacher methodologies.

Birth of the IACP

The midpoint of the twentieth century already had passed, and the presence of technological advances was growing at a faster pace than ever seen before. The cold war well under way, and the race between the United States and the Soviet Union, to be the first to land humans on the moon was making significant progress. Yet for a field such as Industrial Arts that was supposed to provide students with insight into the workings and developments of modern industries, they were still in the days of building bird houses and working with bread boards. The question was raised of whether the current curriculum of woodworking and metalworking was really doing students justice in the age of constantly changing technologies.

In a time such as the 1960’s were almost all social norms were evaluated and many social behaviors were changed it is no wonder that the decade proved to produce much change in the Industrial Arts curriculum. Over 30 different curriculum projects were attempted, with many of them failing for various reasons. The three largest curriculum programs of the decade were the Maryland Plan, the American Industrial Project and of course the most significant is the Industrial Arts Curriculum Project. What is so different about the IACP is that it places the most significance on interpreting industry and applying principles though in depth research. This project would catch a huge break with the Vocational Education Act of 1963 in which millions of dollars were drawn from the career portion to aid in instructional hardware and software. Yet, before the IACP was to change the structure of the Industrial Arts program, much work needed to be done and would prove to be anything but easy for all those involved in its implication.

IACP Project Team

The Industrial Arts Curriculum Project was different than any other project before, because it was the first educational program to combine the educational philosophies of many educated individuals with the real life experience of the leaders in both the construction and manufacturing industries. The project was led by Dr. Donald Lux and Dr. Willis Ray of The Ohio State University, two of the biggest names in the field of Industrial Arts at the time. Together they served as the co-director’s and principle investigators for the project. Donald Lux is originally from Austin, Minnesota where he graduated high school in 1941. It was not until four years later when he decided to pursue higher education, leaving behind a job in the United States Navy as an engine room chief to attend StoutUniversity in Wisconsin. By 1949 he had earned his Bachelors of Science degree and just three years later had earned his Masters. In 1955 he had achieved a Ph.D from The Ohio State University, just 10 years after he decided to pursue higher education. After teaching at OSU and then the University of Illinois, he decided to return to The Ohio State University in 1965 and would remain until retiring from his full-time position in 1984.

Among Dr. Lux’s accomplishments are co-authoring four editions of the World of Construction and the World of Manufacturing, with Dr. Ray. Dr. Lux has also written the Industrial Arts Education portion in the Encyclopedia of educational research. He has been heavily involved in the honorary fraternity for technology known as Epsilon Pi Tau where he has served as a regional director and vice chairman on the board of directors and is currently the trustee for The Ohio State University. For his tremendous career and continuing involvement in the field Dr. Lux has received many honors and awards over the years. Some of the most significant are receiving the title of Professor Emeritus from OSU, the Laureate Citation from Epsilon Phi Tau, Man of the Year in the Construction Industry, Teacher of the Year, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the College of Education at The Ohio State University in 1995.

As stated by Dr. Lux in many readings he gives great respect to all of those involved in the development of the IACP. Along with himself and Dr. Willis Ray, there was four assistant directors, an advisory committee of twelve members, and 42 research assistants. Also countless sources of industry personnel where contacted for primary information to which most of the information in texts was derived from to ensure that the information was both correct and current. However the most significant factor on the success of the IACP is accreted by the directors to the individual schools who with their constant support and patience had made this project possible. As stated by Dr. Lux:

“Clearly the field test center teachers were, collectively, the

most significant contributors to the final products because they were

the ones with their feet to the fire and were the real authorities

regarding what the learners needed and wanted.”

Workings of the IACP

As stated before, the field test centers or individual schools were the most significant factor to the overall success of the project. However for a school system to employ this curriculum they were required to have two industrial arts teachers and offer two courses of the curriculum, one at seventh and one at the eighth grade level. The classes were to be heterogeneous in gender. For schools that were willing to participate in the project, they were provided with all the standardized materials that any other core liberal course would contain. The classes were to be the World of Construction and the World of Manufacturing and were to be taught at the junior high school level. Participating schools were provided with training for their teachers, complete instructional software including; textbooks, workbooks and laboratory manuals. This meant that detailed activities were to be provided for the students, from which were developed by not only scholars of national regard but also the leaders in the construction and manufacturing industries. For the participating teachers, they were provided with detailed teacher’s guides with daily learner outcomes, standardized tests, and instructional aids for activity-based instruction.

What is so different about this project than any other before it is that the teachers were given the opportunity to become actively involved in the development of the project. Daily the cooperating teachers made notes as to how the activities went and possible suggestions for improvement, the on Saturday’s the schools two Industrial Arts teachers would meet and discuss the weeks progress and then combined there thoughts into a weekly report. Each year during the mid-point of the year all participating teachers were invited to an annual conference where ideas were shared and discussed. At these events the individual teachers were questioned as the impact in their classrooms, and then to what they thought should be changed to make the activities for meaningful for the students. They were asked on many different topics including scheduling, time periods, organization, and consumables. These sessions proved to be very helpful for the directors who were constantly seeking ways to improve the curriculum, and the teachers were glad to participate as they noticed that their ideas were actually developed into the curriculum. As the involvement of the cooperating teachers grew, many became teacher educators during the summers, thus teaching other teachers new to the curriculum the best ways to employ and take advantage of this great instructional tool.

Objectives/Goals

As defined by the authors “industry is that subcategory of the economic system which substantially changes the form of materials in response to man’s wants for material foods and services. Technology is defined as the knowledge of techniques. Industrial arts is defined as an organized study of the knowledge of techniques used in construction and in manufacture, or industry” (Lux/Ray). Along with the complete “revamping” of the courses, the authors also provided a new set of objectives for Industrial arts as well, stating:

  1. Enables students to understand the concepts, principles, generalizations, problems, and strategies of industrial technology.
  2. Encourages an interest in and an appreciation for industry as that element of the economic system that provides industrial material goods for the satisfaction of human wants for those goods.
  3. Provides knowledge and skills that will be useful in life situations of occupational, recreational, consumer, and socio-cultural significance.(Lux/Ray)

As well as the program objectives, each course contained 12 of its own learner objectives. Both the World and Construction and the World of Manufacturing, are broken down into three major sections. The World of Construction covers the managed-personnel-production aspect of the industry, housing construction, and an analysis of city construction practices. The World of Manufacturing cover a brief history of the industry, an analysis of the managed-personnel-production system of manufacturing, and a synthesis of manufacturing practices applied to the corporation. Both of these courses are targeted at learner-based activities, they aim to provide appropriate knowledge and then activities in which the learner can identify which a mental image though hands on practical activities. These courses are aimed to provide an educational background to the industries of the 1960’s so that the students will leave the course with an understanding of the world around them, and possibly find the courses so interesting that they decide to pursue a career in the industry.

Conclusion

At the projects end it proved to be nothing less than a great success. This project is long before the days of “Project Lead the Way” and from my findings seems to have directly influenced it. This project was adopted by all of the field test schools that participated and was adopted by many states into the junior high school standards. This curriculum did in fact modernize Industrial Arts, and provided the teachers with the same instructional materials as a teacher of Science or English would have. It was indeed different than any curriculum project of its kind; it was the first curriculum of Industrial Arts to focus study on the structure of knowledge. In a review by D.L Householder years after the IACP’s introduction, stated:

The Industrial Arts Curriculum Project (IACP) is unique in several ways. It is the only major industrial arts curriculum effort which has been rooted in an analysis of the structure of knowledge. It is the first project to produce instructional materials and a sequence of courses correlated with a taxonometric classification of a body of knowledge. The intensive field testing and inservice teacher education which accomplished the development have been unequalled. Finally, IACP is the only program which has produced a substantial group of integrated instructional materials and made them available through a commerical publisher. In view of these attributes, IACP is considered by many to be the outstanding accomplishment of the past decade in industrial arts curriculum development."(1972)

Bibliography

Householder, D.L.(1972). Review and evaluation of curriculum development in industrial arts education. Bloomington, IL: McKnight Publishing Co.

Lux/Ray. (1970). The World of Construction, Industrial Arts Curriculum Project. Bloomington, IL: McKnight Publishing Co.

Lux/Ray (1970). The World of Manufacturing, Industrial Arts Curriculum Project. Bloomington, IL: McKnight Publishing Co.

Lux/Ray (1970). The World of Construciton, Laboratory Manual. Bloomington, IL: McKnight Publishing Co.

Lux/Ray (1970). The World of Manufacturing, Laboratory Manual. Bloomington, IL:McKnight Publishig Co.

Lux/Ray(1970). The World of Construction, Teachers Guide. Bloomington, IL:McKnight Publishing Co.

Lux/Ray (1970). The World of Manufacturing, Teachers Guide. Bloomington, IL: McKnight Publishig Co.

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