RAMP to Success
Facing an employee pool that is increasingly short of workers with skills in math and science, a few Iron Range companies decided to do something about it. Over summer vacation, they awarded internships that enabled 34 math and science teachers to experience first hand the kinds of occupations that their students might someday enjoy.
Sponsored by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the Regional Applied Math Project (RAMP) paired teacher-participants with internships at 28 businesses across the region to learn how math is used beyond the classroom. Participating companies include United Taconite, Minnesota Power, Sappi Paper, St. Luke’s Hospital and the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Center for Economic Development. After their internships, teachers wrote reports on how math is used in the industry, including what additional skills are required to work in the field, and internship and career tips for interested students. Teachers also created classroom activities based on their experiences. All of the reports and activities were compiled into a book given to each teacher to use in the classroom. Additionally, teachers were awarded a small stipend, two graduate credits from Bemidji State University and a small grant, which they could use to implement the classroom activities inspired by their internships.
Michelle Ufford, executive director of Northeast Minnesota Office of Job Training, has been part of the program since its inception and says that becoming familiar with math as an applied skill has helped teachers to better articulate exactly why it is important. “Now, teachers have backup,” Ufford says. Instead of telling students that math is important, they are now able to show it.
Chris Chad, a math teacher in the Nashwauk-Keewatin School District, spent his internship at Architectural Resources in Hibbing and came away with an appreciation for the practical applications of mathematics. “What I learned is that math is definitely as important as we tell our students,” he says.
But the program’s impact went beyond mathematics. Before participating in RAMP, the majority of teacher participants had never worked in a setting other than education, leaving them with no private-industry experience. “So many teachers said, ‘I had no idea that this is what we’re preparing our students for,’” Ufford recalls. “If teachers don’t know what it’s like to work out there in the real world, how can they possibly teach their students what to expect? This experience opened teachers’ eyes.”
Ufford hopes that future grants will enable a duplication of RAMP with math teachers, as well as teachers in other disciplines, such as science. “I still get e-mails from RAMP teachers asking if we’re going to do it again,” she says. “It was such an amazingly positive experience.”
— A.S.