Sparking student interest in submarine manufacturing

The marine industrial base is in desperate need of workers, just like most manufacturing industries are, and the Navy believes more than 140,000 skilled employees need to be hired to fulfill their submarine requirements during the next 10 years. The source of those employees is currently up in the air but Learning Blade, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education platform, is working with BuildSubmarines.com and BlueForge Alliance to help fill the need. Learning Blade has launched the “Beneath the Waves: Building Submarines” mission, a manufacturing and engineering-focused curriculum for educators and 5th-9th grade students. Many efforts have been made toward attracting high school and college students into the manufacturing industry, but Jerry Wooden, CEO of eDynamic Learning, the parent company of Learning Blade, knows getting kids interested in manufacturing can’t start early enough.

“Career education, and especially modern career education in high schools, is fantastic, but it’s even better if you can get to a student in middle school, or maybe even early or late elementary school,” Wooden says. “Exposure is what’s most important. If you think of the time when you were back in middle school, I bet not only did you not know what you wanted to do, but the career fields available were probably not even on your radar compared to what you knew as you got older. So, exposure matters, and the earlier you can get to students, the better.”

The curriculum

Students taking part in the Beneath the Waves: Building Submarines mission can focus on five different technologies and five key roles in the submarine manufacturing industry. The technologies are based around additive manufacturing (AM), non-destructive testing, nuclear reactors, robotics and automation, and metallurgy. The roles include engineer, naval architect, machinist, welder, and quality control inspector.

The mission begins with students imagining they’re part of the Young Submariners Program launched by the Navy. The adventure begins with a trip to a WWII museum where students see an old submarine called the USS Razorback. Students then learn about the various roles in submarine manufacturing until the program ends with students presenting their own designs to a fictitious naval program director, showcasing their understanding of modern manufacturing techniques.

The focus isn’t on students learning each technology and role but allows them to zero in on which one interests them the most.

“It’s not designed to be done in a linear fashion, we give students agency to go to what they’re interested in,” Wooden says. “It’s our hope that certainly segues into learning about something that’s adjacent to it. We say it’s a mission. There’s an outcome at the end the students are trying to get to, and they’re tying together with these different colleagues or teammates in these career fields and the technologies to accomplish the end goal of the mission.”

Getting involved

There are currently 13 states completely funded for Beneath the Waves, meaning any middle school, student, or teacher can get access to the Learning Blade platform and sign up online in their respective state at no cost. Anyone in the other states can still set up something on the Learning Blade website specific to their needs – whether it’s an entire school, teacher, or individual student in the public, private, or home education system.

“There’s absolute access to everybody in those states and that’s the goal. Get the curriculum to as many people as possible to create the possibilities for the future,” Wooden says.

Once students complete the Beneath the Waves: Building Submarines mission, they’re free to go on with their regular education; there’s no commitment or promises to join the maritime industrial base. Wooden says the STEM skills learned in the mission can translate into multiple other careers but wants to make sure students understand there are more than 16,000 companies across numerous states in the maritime industrial base.

“You’re talking about students who are years and years away from the workforce,” Wooden says. “The goal is to spark that interest and create that world of possibilities, and then let the student pursue it if they have passion along the way.”

About the author: Jake Kauffman is managing editor for GIE Media’s Manufacturing Group and can be reached at JKauffman@gie.net.

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BlueForge Alliance
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