Goals of internship as it relates to a teacher

A teacher is a person who provides instruction or education and is a life long learner.  A role model of what it means to be inquisitive and curious.  As a Kenan Fellow it is important that we are collaborative learner, willing to share what we know and learn from others.  My goal with this internship is to share my new learning with my students and help them relate to what kinds of real world jobs are available.  I have spent some time this week planning how my next years class will benefit from this internship.  I see the most parallels in sharing what engineers do, and the engineering process.  I see people at UL (Underwriters Laboratories) working with each other and their clients to  solve problems.  In my class we will think more like engineers as we approach problems.  We will ask questions, brainstorm ideas to a solution, select the most promising design, create something, figure out a way to improve it and begin again. This is the engineering process and I am excited to try this method of teaching.  One of goals that UL has for me is that children understand that there are standards for safety, those standard must be repeatable and very specific.  They also have taught me that everything is made up of component parts, each of which must meet specific standards.  They seek to test every component for compliance of the standard.  Below is a picture of some packages on the shake or vibration table.  This simulates what a package might encounter as it rides in a truck or on a train.  Companies need to know that all that vibration will not impede the product from working.  There are so many aspects of customer safety that I had not ever considered before.