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Chelsea Update Focus on Teachers: Duane Moss

Courtesy photo. Eighth-graders "build" bridges.
Courtesy photo. Eighth-graders “build” bridges.

CAD-programming-vBy Lisa Carolin

Chelsea School District technology teacher Duane Moss has had many students tell him that thanks to the courses they took in Chelsea, they have been ahead of their peers when they’ve gotten to college.

“My students tell me that having the experience with CAD (Computer-Aided Design) made the difference,” said Moss. “They tell me that experience allowed them to further their studies, concentrate on other things, and be a leader for their teams.”

Moss teaches five technology courses at Chelsea High School. He gives students their first chance to experience related courses at Beach Middle School.

Sixth-graders at Beach are the youngest students in the district who have the option to take a technology class. It’s a six-week course called Introduction to Technology, and it covers the safety of using technology as well as learning to do technical drawings.

“Students are given a problem and do technical sketches and then make a model and test it,” explained Moss. “We use a program called Sketch Up that is a 3-D modeling program.”

The sixth-graders learn scale and measurement and start off doing simple objects like chairs and doghouses. Their end project is to create their dream bedroom using professional level CAD programs.

There is a mandatory class for eighth-graders at Beach called Exploring Technology. It’s a 12-week course in which students are exposed to different engineering careers.

”I use things currently in the news so that students can relate to what they’re doing,” said Moss. “For example, we discuss the positives and negatives of Amazon using drones to deliver things. We’ve also talked about self-driving cars and cell phones.”

The students create sketches and then go to the lab to actually create what they sketch.

“They have to think on their feet and improvise and adapt,” said Moss. “The students are making a model now of a truss bridge, and will see how much weight that bridge will hold. They’re learning about things that impact our infrastructure.”

Beach Principal Nick Angel says, “Duane’s courses combine engineering, technology creation, and hands-on projects which are invaluable experiences for middle school students to be exposed to.”

Moss credits the ipads that students have access to for allowing them to extend their education outside the school walls.

Moss is in his 20th year in the Chelsea school district and stays up to date on his subject matter by reading periodicals, staying in contact with universities, and maintaining his membership with the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association.

“I love my subject area, and we have the best kids here,” says Moss.

Courtesy photo. Sixth-graders working with a CAD program.
Courtesy photo. Sixth-graders At Beach Middle School working on a CAD program.
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