Port Washington School Sees Interest Growing in Foundry Program, As Illustrated by Testimonial Below

"We are now in our fourth year of presenting the foundry in a box (FIAB) activity with our 8th grade students at the middle school.  I have to say that is probably one of the coolest and most memorable activities for our 8th graders, and it has helped an incredible amount with enrollment into our metal manufacturing courses at the high school.  We have a fairly well established foundry program at the high school, but prior to FIAB, there was no foundry education whatsoever in place at the middle school.  This was a challenge for our enrollment at the high school as students never got a proper understanding of metal casting and were never able to get a hands on approach.  My intro to casting class started with 12 students five years ago.  I now hold steady at about 40-50 students each year, and have added an advanced level course in which we explore more processes.  I can say that this is due in part to the excitement from FIAB.  I have students tell me each year that this was the reason for signing up for my course.

I can really only say good things about this activity.  It is completely planned out, which requires little to no preparation work from the teacher and could easily take up to a couple hours per presentation.  We run it in an hour and a half period and it works out perfectly.  Again, the students love it and are able to leave with a casting that they made from ramming a mold, to pouring the tin.  We are actually running this presentation with elementary school kids soon and high school students will be making 3d printed Star Wars patterns for the students to make.  I would highly recommend any teacher takes advantage of this free lesson as it brings the importance and fun of metal casting to the students that might not otherwise never be exposed to it."  ~ Taylor Last, Technology & Engineering Teacher