HANDS ON EXPERIENCE KEY PART OF TECHNOLOGY CLASSES

For students taking part in technology classes at the Greater Fort Erie Secondary School, learning is a hands on experience, with using 3D printers and laser engravers as part of their day-to-day lessons.

"Things like (3D printers) are being used a lot more. Just people having even mild experience through high school is very important. It looks good for jobs, and I feel like it might look impressive going into colleges as well," explained grade 12 student Marla Irwin.

Teacher Daniel Ricci says his class is designed in a way that makes it fun and engaging for all students, regardless of their future paths.

"Some kids do it for personal reasons, versus some are actually going to go off to school," he explained. "So some need it literally for school, for applying, so try to do a good balance of let's have some fun and then obviously real world stuff."

Irwin, who is currently enrolled in their second year of design technology classes, says that she believes the skills she's learning, like designing a house using online software, will give her skills she can use outside of the classroom.

"I'm going trying to get into the animation field and knowing things about laying out a house can also help me with background design and stuff like that," she explained. "Even though I feel like specifically in that industry the things that we're learning in this class may not directly apply, I think I still am learning good skills that could help me with the career I'm going for."

Alongside working on practical lessons like home design, all students have the opportunity to come up with and design their own projects, allowing them to explore a variety of the tools that the classroom have with things they want to make and take home.

"I made a replica of a Pokeball from Pokemon that holds (Nintendo) Switch cartridges. So it's a variety of both things we can apply to the real world, but also

things we can do for fun as well.," said Irwin.

In some cases, having the opportunity to work on projects they've chosen helps students in the classes stay more focused on learning.

"In some classes students aren't engaged enough if they're just listening to lectures, they don't really seem to be as interested. But since it's something that you can physically bring home, a lot of people are more excited to work on the tasks at hand," added Irwin.

Ricci says he's hopeful the lessons he's teaching his students will follow them outside of the classroom even if they don't go into a technology related field.

"Tech in general, it's just good life skills. Even if you don't want to do it when you grow up. It's just good to have these skills at the back of your head," he said. "I'm not electrical, but just changing your outlets at home and stuff like that, it's just good life skills."