Workforce Development: Trial-and-Error Learning

Allowing students to work with metering devices in simulation environments is an effective way to present applied math concepts. Photo courtesy of Fluke Corp.

Allowing students to work with metering devices in simulation environments is an effective way to present applied math concepts. Photo courtesy of Fluke Corp.

By Todd W. Stafford, Executive Director, Electrical Training Alliance

Past installments of this column have explored the game-changing nature of apprenticeship, coupled with the use of technology and the impact it has on effective learning. This month, we examine the effects of digital technologies/environments on apprenticeship-training models.

For truly effective programs, creators of apprenticeship training courses must be aware of the learning capabilities and desires of today’s students. Knowing how they are taught to think and implement tasks, and what their learning objectives are before they reach the level of apprenticeship, is critical to developing programs that fit their learning process. In the real world, it’s readily apparent that the thought processes and desires of past apprentices no longer mesh with those of today and tomorrow. Insisting that we remain within the same old hat of providing nothing but instructor-led training is not a sustainable model. Think about the following approaches:

An instructor teaches by presenting a single, correct method associated with whatever task or learning objective is to be achieved. This is the way we have always done it—showing students the one way to do something right the first time, every time.

On the other hand, new apprentices are probably more digitally aware and adept than their instructors. Chances are they’ve been exposed to countless hours of online gaming activities that have required them to make choices—some of them bad. Press reset and start over. The players of these games have learned by making wrong decisions. With this type of trial-and-error experience, however, they ultimately will be able to determine what the right choices should have been and, most important, why.

Both approaches reach the same result: the correct pathway. But how many times do we insist that an apprentice learn “our way” rather than teach in a way that he/she understands better? Using types of technology that today’s students have already embraced can help bridge the gap between instructors of yesterday and apprentices of today. Take, for example, how math and problem solving has been introduced to apprentices in the past and how it should be introduced for future generations. 

Traditionally, math has been presented to apprentices through a set of sequential steps that solve a problem. Application of this math to an alternating-current (AC) inductive, capacitive, and resistive (LCR) circuit, as typically found in electrical environments, would require an apprentice to understand specific formulae and solve for unknown variable(s) to reach correct solutions, and do so through memory alone.

If we were to place the same apprentice within a simulation environment—wherein he/she has a meter and a circuit with components to measure—after a period of time the student could define the same variables, solve for any unknowns, and explain to instructors why and how the results were obtained. All of this could be achieved without ever having to go through and learn a sequential set of steps to solve the problem.

Allowing apprentices to learn by making choices, albeit wrong ones, will equip them with valuable trial-and-error skills for making the right decisions. Then, with the help of an instructor, when a student works with what might have previously seemed to be a complex, irrelevant math formula, he/she will be more capable of grasping the intent and application.

There’s no doubt this method of allowing students to explore, make choices, and generally hit reset benefits apprentice learning. Adapting our educational programs to fit this model is crucial in the effective training of our next generation of craft workers. MT

tstafford@electricaltrainingalliance.org

The non-profit Electrical Training Alliance (Bowie, MD), draws upon diverse partnerships within the electrical industry, all committed and devoted to training the next generation of electrical workers. It consists of 300 joint apprenticeship and training centers in the U.S. and Canada, more than 100 electrical-industry manufacturers and training partners, and a large network of public and private educational institutions. For more information, visit the Alliance’s website at electricaltrainingalliance.org.