Facilities and equipment is one of 12 elements of high-quality CTE, defined in ACTE’s comprehensive, research-based Quality CTE Program of Study Framework. This element addresses the alignment, appropriateness and safety of the physical/material components of the program of study, including laboratories, classrooms, computers, industry-specific equipment, and tools and supplies that support learning. The following reports, articles, guides and toolkits can help you develop and maintain high-quality CTE facilities and equipment and support student safety.
Facilities, Equipment and Tools
How 3D Printing Took One Arizona District to New Heights
Mitchell, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2017
Students at the START campus at West-MEC have the opportunity to network with industry representatives and gain real-world experience with the offer of 3D printing services.
Tech Tools Fuel Today’s CTE & Inspire Tomorrow’s World Leaders
Mumm, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2017
The author describes how to deliver project-based learning in a fabrication or fab lab setting.
Case Study: Transforming CTE Learning Through Mixed Reality
Carbenia, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2017
Teachers in Florida’s St. Lucie Public Schools are using zSpace, which combines elements of virtual reality and augmented reality, to create interactive experiences for a diverse group of CTE students.
Teaching In-Demand Skills: How Healthcare Educators Engage Today’s Students
Kuhn, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2017
Health care educators are using simulators and other high-tech tools to engage new generations of students.
The Mobile Technical Education Center: STEM Career Inspiration on Wheels
McKinnon, ACTE Techniques Magazine, May 2017
The Mobile Technical Education Center offers an interactive exhibit to inspire youth to pursue careers in STEM.
Makerspaces: Providing Pennsylvania Practical Prefiguration
D’Urzo et. al, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2016
The authors give diverse examples of makerspaces and fab labs in Pennsylvania.
Awesome Toy Trains
Singleton, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2016
This article details the Awesome Toy Trains project, which illustrates the effectiveness of creating a teaching/learning environment that embodies the Maker Movement.
Telepresence Robots: They’re Not Just for the Jetsons Anymore
Craven and Heitschmidt, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2015
Telepresence robots can engage homebound or hospitalized students more effectively than stationary video conferencing units.
Simulated Work-based Learning: Instructional Approaches and Noteworthy Practices
Moyer, Snodgrass, Klein and Tebben, National Center for Innovation in Career Technical Education, September 2017
This paper explores the potential benefits of simulated work-based learning for CTE students. Researchers evaluated CTE programs at nine sites within three models: 1) those using simulation tools to teach occupationally specific skills; 2) simulated workplaces, intended to replicate jobsite conditions; and 3) school-based enterprises, operated as student-run businesses that produce and sell products or services.
Safety and Legal Issues
Occupational Safety & Health Competencies Are Life Skills for CTE Students
Jones, Braam and Okun, ACTE Techniques Magazine, November/December 2017
Providing CTE students with foundational occupational safety and health competencies empowers them to recognize dangerous conditions, raise issues with their coworkers and supervisors, and work with their employers to improve workplaces and prevent injuries.
Young Worker Safety: Are Your Students and Classrooms Prepared?
Foster Mack and Riley, ACTE Techniques Magazine, October 2014
This article describes the need for safety training; explores how teachers can use the CareerSafe Professional Development Program to implement a well-rounded, documented safety training program; and includes a sample in-class safety activity.
Safety and Health in the Technical Classroom and Laboratory: Part 1 and Safety and Health in the Technical Classroom and Laboratory: Part 2
Backes and Nawolski, ACTE Techniques Magazine, February 2013 and March 2013
These companion articles describe the Backes and Nawolski Safety and Health Model learning environments.
Safety Checklist Program for Schools
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), October 2003
The NIOSH Safety Checklist Program is a comprehensive resource for information schools need to maintain safe classrooms, shops and labs for teachers and students in CTE.
Youth@Work: Talking Safety (California Edition)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIOSH, March 2018
Teachers and school/community-based job placement staff can educate young people about the basics of job safety and health with this free curriculum. It presents essential information and career readiness skills through a focus on eight core competencies.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration Resources
- Young Workers safety hub
- Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs, October 2016
- Safety and Health Program Audit Tool, December 2017
- OSHA Outreach Training Program (for 10- and 30-hour cards)
The above are just some of the resources from OSHA that support young worker safety and help teachers develop safety skills in students.
Core Elements of the Safety and Health Program Recommended Practices (adapted for CTE programs)
Wermes (adapted from OSHA)
Theses Core Elements have been revised from OSHA’s Core Elements of the Safety and Health Program Recommended Practices to focus on student learning and function within an authentic CTE program Safety and Health Management System. It includes essential leadership, faculty, staff, employer, and stakeholder roles and program operations.
Safety Guide for CTE
Bergeson et. al, Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 2002
This guide, developed by the state of Washington, addresses legal information, codes and standards, general safety practices and safety practices for particular program areas. It includes a facilities checklist and curriculum for a general safety unit.
Work Safe Work Smart
Minnesota Department of Health, 2012
This curriculum helps students learn to identify workplace hazards, brainstorm ways to protect workers from hazards, and discuss barriers to making safe choices at work. Students also learn the laws governing work for those under the age of 18.
Your Construction Safety Program: Safe Students, Safe Workers
University of California, Berkeley, and West Virginia University
CTE administrators and instructors can take steps to strengthen their construction safety programs. This publication includes an online self-assessment tool.
Laboratory Safety Resources
Virginia Tech
This webpage links to general and specific safety resources and competencies within agricultural mechanics.
Designing Safer Learning Environments for Integrative STEM Education, Fourth Edition ($)
DeLuca and Haynie, International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, 2017
This manual aids teachers in developing and carrying out a safety program in the technology and engineering education classroom. It includes sample releases and other forms that teachers can duplicate for classroom use, as well as 18 printable safety posters and corresponding safety tests as well as PowerPoint presentations and videos that teachers can use to reinforce safer practices.
Safer Makerspaces, Fab Labs, and STEM Labs: A Collaborative Guide! ($)
Roy and Love, National Safety Consultants LLC, 2017
This book discusses designing and maintaining safer makerspaces, Fab Labs and STEM labs in both formal and informal educational and community settings, including liability/legal standards, better professional practices, safety controls, biological/chemical/physical hazards, first aid procedures, the facilities planning process, recommended designs and existing examples, and frequently asked safety questions.
Not As Hard As You Think: Engaging High School Students in Work-Based Learning and What Employers Need to Know: Frequently Asked Questions about High School Students in Workplaces
Cahill and Jackson, Jobs for the Future, April and May 2015
The first brief features case studies on the ways that employers have managed the logistics of work-based learning. The second brief provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about access to workplaces for students under the age of 18.
Connecting the Classroom to Careers: Removing Legal Barriers around Work-based Learning
Advance CTE, April 2016
The legal barriers to work-based learning can be dismantled by training teachers to understand state and federal legal, health and safety requirements for work-based learning and by mitigating work-based learning liability concerns for schools and employers.
A Primer on Teacher Liability
Zirkle, Tech Directions, December 2016
This article discusses the concept of liability and shares simple ways teachers can lessen their exposure to liability concerns.