Sorry I haven't been posting here much lately.   As I approach retirement after teaching Furniture Design to college students for the last 40+ years I thought I'd write up what we taught to the students for their first class in the sequence. That and the logic behind why we taught what we taught.  Most students these days come to class with no prior woodworking experience or exposure to fabrication tools. The first class is all about familiarizing them with the tools available and how to turn raw materials into finished products.  Class size varies from 8 to 12 usually.  The end goal is to get them prepared so they can design furniture with confidence that they can make what they've designed. 

I'll apologize for my wordiness.  A side effect of being a college educator for so long I'm guessing.  All is written up in my Blog at https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/.   We start with small projects designed to introduce many tools and processes. The final project is a small table.  The Tiny Table examples start here: https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2022/04/woodworking-education-tiny-table-1.html.  Links to the other Tiny Table and associated examples are at the bottom or each article.  It is a long read from start to finish, but I tried to explain the teaching value and intent along side how to make the assorted projects. 

 

If you by chance decide to read any of it I'd love to hear any feedback good or bad.  Thanks for listening.

4D

Added tags. The boss @John Morris likes tags.

Thanks Gene. 

I would encourage you to post your blog here, as well. We love blogs!!

Just skimmed through it and will go back and take my time. Great visuals and links. As a former Vocational Instructor, I can appreciate the amount of effort that goes into creating these write-ups.

Got 'em opened, saved tabs on my tablet. Will be my night-time reading. Similar to Lew, as a former corporate technical trainer, I understand and appreciate the time + energy to create course content and tutorials. As Lew suggested, feel free to post your blogs here too.

 

Not to high-jack your thread, but a favor to ask; I would appreciate your expertise and feedback in this thread as you have time:

 

I just skimmed, too, as I'm on "lunch break" but will go back.

 

My initial thoughts, without too much study of your docs are:

• Graduated introduction to tools, one or two at a time.  Safety included
• Graduated use of those tools in more and more complicated fabrication and joinery
• Wood properties (I see beginners all the time wondering why their breadboard tables are cracking, and Asian furniture with grain runout breakage)
• Good mix of power and hand tools, it's often easier and quicker to pick up a hand tool to do a job than set up a power tool (unless you are doing "production" work)
• (Not too surprisingly) Application and choice of finishes is often overlooked

 

I got Jim Stack's "Box by Box" book from the library last week.  At first I was disappointed because the first couple boxes were just primitive square and butted together.   But in subsequent chapters, each project took on more and more skills and complexity.

everything i know i learned in Jr. HS.

45 minutes ago, DAB said:

everything i know i learned in Jr. HS.

Me too.  No wait, it was kindergarten where I learned all the important things.  I'll still throw a little credit to the woodworking and metalworking classes I took in Jr. High though. Maybe a bit to the drafting courses I took in High School.  Another bit here and there to wisdom gained from a string of brilliant professors I had in college.   

I like to think I keep learning new things, as the current me seems far more informed than the high school me.  I can say for sure that I've forgotten more things than the total of what I knew in Jr. High.    

it strikes me that the old master/apprentice system, which is still used in some industries worked in that the master craftsman, who had learned his craft from his own efforts and working under others, would pass along his expertise one bit at a time as projects were worked on.

 

but trying to speed up that process in a class room environment can have some problems, where you are trying to teach/learn things out of the normal sequence.

 

it can be like trying to drink from a fire hose.  you get wet, but not much gets swallowed and retained.

1 hour ago, kmealy said:

At first I was disappointed because the first couple boxes were just primitive square and butted together. 

The Joinery Box project, not really about a box, has one simple shallow rabbet corner, although we have the students reinforce it with screws covered with plugs. Not that the glue wouldn't hold, but rather so we can introduce the drill press and how to select the right sized bits for the screws they use. 

 

https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2022/04/woodworking-education-joinery-box-not.html

2 minutes ago, DAB said:

you get wet, but not much gets swallowed and retained.

I long ago notice how some students always retained more of a lecture or demonstration than other.  I also realized some years what I thought was the same lecture or demonstration had a better retention ratio than other years. 

In helping students with CNC jobs I give the whole class a demonstration on how I want vectors from them to turn into toolpaths to cut what they need. When time to help each one I find out that most either weren't paying attention or forgot what I'd said.  I asked the one student who got everything right how it was that she accomplished that?   "I took notes!" she said. 

 

So I make sure that I say exactly what it is I want them to learn, then tell them that what I just said was important to learn. Usually it will be on the upcoming test, and I tell then that too. If they haven't gotten out their note pad or the note app on their phones I tell them the story above.   Not all students know how to learn effectively. It is something you can help them learn though. 

 

4D

11 minutes ago, 4DThinker said:

I long ago notice how some students always retained more of a lecture or demonstration than other.  I also realized some years what I thought was the same lecture or demonstration had a better retention ratio than other years. 

In helping students with CNC jobs I give the whole class a demonstration on how I want vectors from them to turn into toolpaths to cut what they need. When time to help each one I find out that most either weren't paying attention or forgot what I'd said.  I asked the one student who got everything right how it was that she accomplished that?   "I took notes!" she said. 

 

So I make sure that I say exactly what it is I want them to learn, then tell them that what I just said was important to learn. Usually it will be on the upcoming test, and I tell then that too. If they haven't gotten out their note pad or the note app on their phones I tell them the story above.   Not all students know how to learn effectively. It is something you can help them learn though. 

 

4D

a test?

 

ah ha, that changes things.

 

some will learn enough to get a passing grade for their own purposes.  others will learn so they can use that knowledge later in life, and may or may not pass that week's quiz.

 

a person who intends to make a living doing woodworking has a different need to learn than someone who is just trying to fill out their schedule with an elective.  which kind of goes back to the comment on master/apprentice system.  that was a multi year commitment, not just something to do for 13 weeks on tuesdays.

 

 

3 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

I long ago notice how some students always retained more of a lecture or demonstration than other.  I also realized some years what I thought was the same lecture or demonstration had a better retention ratio than other years. 

In helping students with CNC jobs I give the whole class a demonstration on how I want vectors from them to turn into toolpaths to cut what they need. When time to help each one I find out that most either weren't paying attention or forgot what I'd said.  I asked the one student who got everything right how it was that she accomplished that?   "I took notes!" she said. 

 

So I make sure that I say exactly what it is I want them to learn, then tell them that what I just said was important to learn. Usually it will be on the upcoming test, and I tell then that too. If they haven't gotten out their note pad or the note app on their phones I tell them the story above.   Not all students know how to learn effectively. It is something you can help them learn though. 

 

4D

I believe there are different styles of learning (VARK model).   I am a visual learner and kinesthetic.  I often said that learning math was like learning to swim.  You can't just read a book or watch a demo and then jump in the deep end.  You need to try it and practice, practice, practice.

 

• Kinesthetic learning  or tactile learning -  learning takes place by carrying out physical activities, rather than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations.

• Visual learning  - needs to see information in order to process it. Visual learners can utilize graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, and other forms of visual stimulation to effectively interpret information

• Auditory learning - learns through listening.

• Read/write learning - learn primarily by reading and writing.

   

For me to learn anything,  it takes all 4 modes and about10 times each. And then I forget what I learned the first time around.

Edited April 13, 20224 yr by Gene Howe

I'm generally with the theory that for most people, despite what they claim if they claim a learning style, all sensory inputs we have contribute to how well we learn.  Even our senses of smell and taste. It is the redundancy of inputs that still let us learn even if we loose one or two or one or two sources for input aren't available.  If you can learn from a good educational Youtube video, my bet is that you could also learn from only the audio by turning off your monitor, of just from the video by muting the audio.  Of course many videos have more educational audio attached, and some could loose the video as the audio is where the information comes from.  Some are all about the video.   If you learn anything from my blog it isn't due to the kinesthetics required to read it.  We teach furniture design not as theory, but as a hands on series of processes to make what you imagine.  Not because we expect all our students to become professional furniture designers or builders, but to diversify and exercise all available inputs of our students.  As interior architects or industrial designers they may never be asked to make their designs.  Knowing how though arms them to design things that can be made.  They can intelligently inform the fabricators if need be. 

 

4D 

Tool names and functions, other than for the short list of main power tools, are not taught by the current group of young instructors.  The new hire that was told by the department head to come up with her own syllabus and lessons for the class has them jumping straight into building furniture after only a short sniff of what tools are available. Her only educational experience related to furniture design was when she was a student in the master's program it R.I.S.D..   The students we teach are 2nd or 3rd year undergraduates in a 5.5 year design program that have had generally zero fabrication experience and don't yet have a design degree. 

 

Since she started all the instructors have begged to increase class time, and have the fab lab open evening hours.  They haven't caught on yet that it takes more faculty input/time with each student to help them build their designs when they haven't been taught a broad array of fundamentals.   https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2022/04/woodworking-education-tool-names-and.html  talks about daily (at the beginning of each class) introduction of a subset of all the tools.  The next day they do a quick review, then are shown a new subset.  After all subsets have been shown there is (was) a test.

 

4D 

Edited April 14, 20224 yr by 4DThinker

On 4/13/2022 at 1:42 PM, 4DThinker said:

it was kindergarten where I learned all the important things.

Nap time makes the world go around.

 

The Dowelling Jig. No, it is not a dance.  Ha! Love it. 

 

 

Edited April 14, 20224 yr by Dovetail
No reason in particular

5.5 year program?  yikes.

 

my BS in Mech. Engineering only took 4 years, and I later got a Professional Engineer license.

 

what does this kind of program cost a student?

19 minutes ago, DAB said:

5.5 year program?  yikes.

 

my BS in Mech. Engineering only took 4 years, and I later got a Professional Engineer license.

 

what does this kind of program cost a student?

When I was in college, the program was Interior Architecture, with 2 years of pre-design and 3 years of focus on what your major was.  5 years to a Bachelor in Interior Architecture.  Other degree options were Landscape Architecture, Architecture, and City Planning.   At some point the Architecture industry Association announced they would only recommend hiring students with a Master's Degree.  Magically, almost overnight, our college added one semester for overseas studies or internships, cut the pre-design years to 1, and the 5.5 years would get you straight to a Master's degree.  No bachelor degrees are offered.   Many colleges in the country followed suit.  

 

As to what it costs?  10x+ what I paid in the late '70s.  I paid a flat fee per semester.  Students now pay a fee per credit hour taken.  The fees include a technology fee, a students union fee, and a couple more.   

4D

Edited April 14, 20224 yr by 4DThinker