Wee Wizards to Inspire Future Engineers
Outreach to the next generation of manufacturing engineers is a key component of the educational mission of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (ERC-RMS). "All indications show that the current generation of young people is the most industrially illiterate we've seen. If we're going to retain a strong manufacturing industry in the future, we must begin educating children early," said Professor Yoram Koren, the center's director.
Lenea Howe, the center's education coordinator, and Rod Hill, the center's graphic designer, were discussing this problem one day. Howe and Hill were officemates, both with backgrounds in art. "I smell a coloring book," Hill recalled Howe saying. At the time Howe was researching manufacturing history for a textbook. She was immersed in readings about Eli Whitney and interchangeable parts, Henry Ford and his moving assembly line. The coloring book could incorporate manufacturing history as a way to introduce kids to some key concepts, she suggested.
The project took shape over the next few months and a prototype earned approval--and much enthusiasm--at the center's annual visit from the National Science Foundation Site Review Board shortly thereafter.
The result of Howe and Hill's work is a 22-page activity book, Wee Wizards Explore Making Things: How Manufacturing Works and Why It Is Important, geared toward kids in grades 5 through 7. Howe and Hill, working with U-M art students who developed and drew a small cast of characters and illustrations, also produced a corresponding teacher's edition. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers solicited funding to print and distribute a pilot run of 5,000 copies of each publication to science and technology teachers throughout Michigan.
The response to the project was "tremendous," said Hill. Requests came in from all over the world after the coloring book was featured on the U-M College of Engineering website. Assembly magazine ran a brief article about it. Industry has expressed interest. The NSF was so enthusiastic about the idea that representatives requested a larger activity book aimed at elementary-age audiences. "Their request shows the need for education at different levels--a couple of years ago the focus was middle school. Now it's early elementary," said Howe.
The Kitchen Table Fun Book of Manufacturing: How Things Are Built One at a Time and by the Thousands is now in draft form. It features a diverse ensemble of characters that include both kids and critters: young humans Callie and Hayward; a spider who designs; an ant who fosters teamwork; a firefly with innovative ideas; a bee concerned about quality; and a crab who has mastered repetitive motion. Narrative, experiments, word puzzles, poems and dozens of images and illustrations comprise the 90-page workbook that is meant to engage not only its young readers but their caregivers as well.
"We want it to be the most beat-up book in the kids' library," said Howe, who hopes its young readers will realize that a career in manufacturing engineering can be exciting, rewarding and, most importantly, within reach.
"The ultimate affirmation," added Hill, "would be to see that book on a kid's shelf just beat to heck, and that grandpa would sneak a peek at it too."
Howe retired from the University in August 2006 after 13 years. "I want my time here to show in some real way," she said. "That's why this project has been so much fun."
