CONTACT: Marie Gaudard
603-862-1872
WRITER: Virginia Stuart
603-862-3102
After a successful first year, UNH and Aavid Thermal Technologies seek to expand program, the only one of its kind in the nation.
DURHAM, N.H.--University of New Hampshire mathematicians are working with local manufacturers on an innovative science program--the only one of its kind in the country. The collaborative effort helps high school teachers and students learn a highly effective method for designing scientific experiments. In the process, the students can see the value of textbook math and science at work in the classroom--and at the factory.
The "design of experiments" (DOX) method they are learning has been widely used by scientists and manufacturers to solve problems more efficiently and accurately than the conventional scientific process of changing one variable at a time. In a "designed" experiment, two or more factors are changed simultaneously, producing faster results and taking into account the interaction between different factors.
The high school DOX program was initiated last fall by UNH and Aavid Thermal Technologies, headquartered in Concord. Teachers from four high schools were paired with nearby businesses and studied the DOX approach in an industrial course as well as a course for teachers. The teachers were then able to incorporate the DOX method into their lesson plans. According to the coordinators of the program, Michigan is the only other state with a program teaching DOX techniques to high school students--but that program does not involve partnerships between schools and manufacturers.
DOX in the Classroom
"We want to have a classroom that's alive, where things happen that make the students say 'wow!'" says Erling Mostue, a retired vice president of human resources at Aavid, now consulting with the company on education projects.
The eight teachers who participated in the high school DOX program last year witnessed a number of "wow" moments in their classrooms. At Winnisquam Regional High School in Tilton, Bob Atherton saw a new outcome to a classic physics experiment. For many years high school students, changing one variable at a time, have learned that the length of the string is the only factor affecting the time it takes a pendulum to swing from one side to the other. Doing a DOX version of the experiment, Atherton's class varied several factors at once and learned that the angle of the swing does make a difference when the weight of the string is varied as well.
In Hopkinton, Sue Davis Tipton's chemistry class tried doing one experiment in two different ways--one group used the conventional "one-at-a-time" method; the other changed two variables at once. The DOX approach achieved the same results in half the time. UNH statistics instructor Phil Ramsay, who has done extensive consulting in industry, notes that the improvement in efficiency can be much more dramatic. "Research has shown that you may do 20 to 25 times more experimental runs when using a single-factor instead of a DOX approach. Those extra runs can translate into a tremendous amount of time and money."
Taking School to Work
After the students had studied DOX at school, they were invited to visit a local business to see the results achieved by DOX on the job. Aavid, a maker of heat sinks and other products used to keep electronic equipment from overheating, worked with students at Kearsarge High School in New London and Moultonborough Academy in Moultonborough. The students learned how to anodize heat sinks in their own lab and performed statistical calculations to verify Aavid's DOX results. In Hopkinton, high school students worked with Labsphere, a North Sutton company that produces highly reflective materials and coatings for use in equipment from satellites to grocery-store scanners.
Claire Reppucci, vice president of operations at Labsphere, gave the Hopkinton students a tour of the manufacturing plant, including the spray-coating production line where DOX techniques are applied. Perhaps even more valuable then the tour itself was the opportunity for students to meet a chemical engineer, optical engineer, and inorganic chemist on the job. "These were very technical people the students could talk with and learn how they apply their training and education," says Reppucci. "I wish I'd had the opportunity to do that when I was young."
Benefits Beyond School and Work
"More and more companies are going to be seeing the value in educating students to enhance the quality of our work force," predicts Marie Gaudard, a UNH statistics professor who coordinates the DOX high school program with Erling Mostue. Mostue notes that DOX training promotes problem-solving, team building, and critical and innovative thinking. "Those skills are not only valuable at work, but as life skills. Teaching those skills profits business," he says, "and it profits society. "
The high school DOX program is now starting its second year with a new set of teachers. All of last year's schools will continue to work with their industrial partners, and Mostue hopes to expand the program to include 75 teachers in all. The program has been funded by Aavid, individual contributor Alan Beane, Eisenhower Title II funds, and UNH.
Fifty-three companies have received DOX training at UNH over the past eight years--and saved about $11 million as a result. The courses are offered through the New Hampshire Industrial Research Center, a state-funded initiative involving UNH, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Medical School, Franklin Pierce Law Center, and the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development.