Throughout this first nine weeks of school for the 2020-21 academic year, Beaver County Career & Technology students have been attending their elected programs online, regardless if they are a new or returning student. Students, parents, and other educators have all asked, “How are you going to teach career and technical education virtually?” Thankfully, here at BCCTC, our teachers, professionals from their own respective industries, are creative and have come up with some incredible ways for their students to get engaged with this new learning platform.
Our next ‘Featured Teacher’ is Mr. George Mitsch, Electrical Occupations Instructor and an active member of the Beaver Valley Contractors & Suppliers Association. He and his students are currently and will continue to cover vital construction safety practices with an emphasis on electrical safety. Safety that OSHA regulates on any work site. For any of you reading this that is aware of safety at a construction worksite, you will know that is a lot of material to cover, especially in the electrical field! And, it is also known that before ANY construction happens, one of the very first actions to take is the installation of electricity.
New students to the program are learning as returning students are reviewing the following:
- GFCI (Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter is a fast-acting circuit breaker designed to shut off electric power in the event of a ground-fault within as little as 1/40 of a second)
- Disconnects (A disconnect is an isolated switch used to ensure that an electrical circuit is completely deenergized for service or maintenance)
- Breakers (An automatically-operated switch designed to protect a circuit from damage caused by an overload of electricity or short circuit)
- Switches & Receptacles (A receptacle is the formal term for ‘outlet’)
“At least this portion of my program is all theory,” said Mr. Mitsch. “A good work ethic and +positive safety attitude (not a -negative one) at work is worth more than two books of knowledge.”
He does show them different sizes of cables, explains their purposes, and would tell them where they would be used and why. He can show them a video on how to safely change a furnace motor as well. However, Mr. Mitsch knows that his students should be associating the physical part of the electrical industry with the theory. And how does he do that remotely? He tells his students to go to their bathrooms and kitchens to check the receptacles that have been previously installed. He wants them to see if there is a GFCI type there and if there isn’t, he will teach them how to replace them once they return to his classroom.
Our Electrical Occupations students are receiving the same theory instruction they would have received as if sitting in the program today! Good thing there are several examples at their homes, from electrical fans to residential lighting and those examples previously mentioned, that students can now begin to appreciate and understand just how much we ALL rely on electricity.
Electrical students, enjoy the theory you are receiving now… Mr. Mitsch has ALL KINDS of hands-on projects for you, when you return!