Like the school, Van Meter is no stranger to distinction. While serving his country, he was presented with a Purple Heart and two Meritorious Service Medals. As an educator, he was honored as the 2016-2017 Teacher of the Year by California State Senator Anthony Cannella. His classroom has hosted members of the US Congress, state legislators, and state school board officials, all visiting to gain a better understanding of why the Academy is so successful.
In 2010, the CHS MPGT Academy was founded as a result of school administrators acknowledging that high school curriculum had been tailored to prepare students for college, but only one of every three students were continuing their education after graduation. A better way of transitioning students from high
Chris Van Meter收到年度教师
school to the next phase of life was required. The school sought to develop a new approach to teaching based on the needs and advice of local businesses. The Wood Shop class was closed and the roots of a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum were born.
Many consider the Academy’s methods to be the future of teaching. Non-STEM subjects are still taught, but the school finds ways to tie the subjects together. Students might study an ancient engineering design by someone like Leonardo da Vinci in History class, then write a paper about it in English class. They then take the knowledge to a Manufacturing class where they can attempt to improve the design, create prototypes and eventually produce it. The MPGT Academy has 79 Tiertime STEAM 3D Printers which play an important role in those final steps.
“I met a gentleman at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts demonstrating the Up Mini printer several years ago. I had been looking for a great low-budget printer that was compact and could be put on a classroom table next to a computer,” said Van Meter. “Later, we were introduced to the UP Mini 2 by Octave Systems, a local dealer. The printers were fully enclosed, had a HEPA filter, were Wi-Fi connectable, and had simple-to-use software that students would gravitate to immediately. As far as I am concerned, one of these printers should be in every classroom in America.”
TiVertime打印机用于9至12级，用于课堂项目，个人项目，设计和原型概念，以及用于太阳能帆船船的传动火车等大规模努力。
MPGT学院没有3D打印研究领域。相反，SolidWorks CAD软件，Steam 3D打印机和其他CNC机器是教学现代设计和制造技术的工具。重点不是工具。这是工具启用的，这是在高中后的学生的准备，无论是在大学，职业学院或商业。
当蒸汽3D打印机未用于类分配时，允许学生以其自己的目的使用它们。Van Meter认为这是释放创造力的关键因素。
“This is the brilliant part. After a two-week safety and usage course, students utilize the machines non-stop for various personal projects, other classroom projects – History, Science, English, etc. – and for gifts for other students. This leads to the creativity, imagination, lifetime playfulness, and intrigue that every engineer needs in order to be successful,” said Van Meter. “There are projects all students must accomplish to demonstrate competence. Once completed, I expect the students to freely use any machine they want for a project or just for fun.”
His philosophy is to keep it student-centric, student-led, and student-understandable. Tiertime’s UP mini 2 perfectly fits his doctrine.
“很容易使用，易于设置，并且有很少的错误无瑕疵。学生可以使用非常小的指导来运行它不停，并且是教室的经济学。它还使用PLA和ABS，这是小教室的另一个大奖润。老实说，它看起来很棒，“班米表说。
Tiertime UP BOX STEAM 3D Printers are used for larger projects by 11th and 12th graders delving into robotics, green energy and other designs requiring a bigger build volume. These more advanced studies combine electronics and CNC-machined parts with 3D-printed parts, emulating professional prototyping and manufacturing techniques. From beginning to end, the MPGT curriculum takes a student from not knowing CAD to soldering circuits and programming microcontrollers, while including the perspective of traditional subjects such as Math, Biology, Physics, History, Economics and English.
It doesn’t stop there. Students are taught how to handle a job interview. Most are offered well-paid internships with partnered businesses after graduation. Others go on to study engineering, manufacturing or another science at college.
也许CHS MPGT学院最重要的方面不是所教导的，而是所教导的方式。“当我在我的课程中申请实践学习技术时，学生探索3D打印的边界，找到最复杂和最巧妙的解决方案，并以我从未想象的方式完美地应用他们的技能，”班米表说。
