THEY DON'T CALL IT SHOP ANYMORE

JACKSON -- Not long ago, people called the industrial arts class "shop" for short. Most seventh-grade boys and maybe two or three girls were enrolled, and they produced a birdhouse or clock to give Mom and Dad.

Those days are all but gone. Today's students don't need birdhouses as much as they do computer skills, and many former shop classes have replaced hand saws and tape measures with robotic arms and flight simulators.

And girls want to use them as much as boys.

Such is the case at the Jackson Middle School, where seventh-grade students may take the industrial technology class as a quarter-long elective. Dave Willer, the instructor, estimates that all but 50 seventh-graders opted to take his class.

There are 10 state-of-the-art modules in the room, separated by concrete partitions. Inside the little cubicles, students learn about building construction, electrical connectors and mechanisms. They learn computer-aided drafting, animation, robotics and math and measures. They use a flight simulator, operate a computer-controlled blade and study laser technology.

"This isn't a replacement for traditional industrial arts," Willer said. "It's an addition to it. Woodworking is still used at this time, but now we must train our students to use machines, too."

On Tuesday morning, students in his third-hour class were busy with their activity guides. One was projecting a light beam in the laser module. Another was typing in commands on a computer to make a robotic arm put blocks in a bin. A third gripped the steering wheel of a flight simulator.

Willer, an industrial arts teacher for 11 years, had to update his own skills to teach the class. He is less an instructor, he said, and more of a facilitator and guide. The students use the activity guides and equipment to teach themselves as they progress from module to module about every five days.

Josh Spich, 13, said he elected to take industrial technology because he knew it would be interesting.

"You learn at least one skill for every job there is," he said.

Carrie Oberly, 12, said she wasn't worried about being the only girl taking an industrial arts class. Many of her female classmates take it, too.

"It shouldn't make any difference," Oberly said. "I just thought it would be fun to take."

Willer said he has enjoyed teaching at the new middle school, completed just this year, and said the high-tech classroom was a good investment.

"The administration and teachers have a strong commitment to preparing their students for life in the future," she said. "This is a solid town with a strong work ethic, and we want to prepare kids to maintain that."