The light fantastic: PHOTON materials for technician education (original) (raw)

2003, Education and Training in Optics and Photonics

Project PHOTON has developed a set of instructional materials suitable for a onesemester laboratory based introduction to photonics course. The textbook, laboratory experiment kit and laboratory manual have been thoroughly field tested by participating high schools and two year colleges. All materials have been aligned to national Math, Science, Technology and Language Arts standards. OCIS codes: (000.0000) General Providing professional development for career and guidance counselors to enable them to speak knowledgeably about careers in optics/photonics Developing alliances among educators at the middle school, high school and college levels to facilitate articulation among levels of instruction Developing partnerships between educators and industry to provide school-to-career activities for students and support for classroom learning Increasing student interest in optics/photonics by creating hands-on activities to supplement classroom learning Improving the lab facilities at participating schools through the development of a laboratory experiment kit. Recognizing that many science and technology teachers either never studied optics or need an update on modern applications, PHOTON featured a strong teacher professional development component. Career counselors were included in workshops and activities to equip them with outreach information to encourage students interested in careers in science, math, engineering and technology. Project participants met at initial two-day workshops held in Connecticut and Massachusetts in Fall 2000. The first day of the workshop was held at a corporate location (Zygo Corp, in Middlefield, CT and Lucent, in North Andover, MA). At each workshop, teachers and counselors from 30 schools received an introduction to photonics technology and listened to speakers from industry and academia discussed pathways in photonics education and careers. The second day was for teachers only. Workshops held at college locations (Three Rivers Community College in Connecticut and University of Massachusetts in Lowell, MA) provided teachers with take-home activities for multiple grade levels based on the Optical Society of America (OSA) Optics Discovery Kit. The PHOTON team described the upcoming summer workshop, the equipment kit that each school would receive, and responsibilities of participants continuing in the project. From the initial group of participants, 40 schools were chosen by competitive application to complete the project. Each school team consisted of a teacher and a career counselor, and schools were required to apply as regional Proceedings EWE3 Proceedings EWE3