2020 STEM Guitar Photo Book

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The STEM Guitar Project 2020
STEM Education Transitions to Remote Learning

Featuring: 2020 Guitar Building Institutes, Events,
& Implementing Schools Across the United States

©2020 STEM Guitar Project – all rights reserved

The STEM Guitar Project

Innovative, Relevant, Dynamic

STEM Education

Faculty Professional Development in the Design, Construction, and Assembly
of Solid Body Electric Guitars, Acoustic Guitars, and CNC Applications

STEM Curriculum Aligned with National, State, and District School Standards

National Science Foundation (NSF) - Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
Department of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

1. NSF ATE Guitar Project: DUE #0903336
2. LEAD GUITARS in STEM: DUE #1304405
3. The STEM Guitar Project: DUE #1700531

The STEM Guitar Project Transitions to Hands-On Remote Learning

Active learning of STEM skills via online instruction for Educators, Students, and Veterans

The STEM Guitar Project

§ Partners with Advanced Technological
Education (ATE) Centers with funding
provided through a grant from the
National Science Foundation

§ Hosts STEM Guitar Building Institutes
throughout the US with approximately
40 hours of group instruction and 30
hours of independent work

§ Provides middle school, high school,
and post-secondary faculty training in
Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math (STEM) applications as they
relate to the guitar

§ Participants experience hands-on,
applied learning techniques that
engage students and spark excitement
for learning STEM concepts

A 2020 high school teacher participant with an electric guitar
built at the summer STEM Guitar Remote Learning Institute

We are quite popular. And, speaking
of going viral…
Not only have our workshops
gone national & international-- 2020
they have also gone viral! COVID-19
One of our swirl dipping videos UPDATE
has over 176 million views!

STEM Guitar Viral Video!

The Shamrock Shake video was filmed by our Announcing STEM Guitar Building Remote Learning Institutes
Team at the 2019 summer CNC Institute in
Houston Texas

The STEM Guitar Project 2020 goes Virtual

The STEM Guitar Project moved seamlessly to a totally online platform that
highlights and supports the hands-on, integrated STEM learning components
featured in our popular face-to-face workshops from the past 12-years. In just
four weeks, the team created a new series of instructional videos, moved the
curriculum online, and provided an engaging hands-on learning experience.

Electric Guitar: Level 1a Electric/CNC Hybrid: Level 1b Acoustic Guitar: Level 2

§ “The Original Workshop” § Modified from the Original § Participants learn the
to include CAD/CAM principles of acoustic

§ Faculty learn how to build training using Fusion 360 guitar construction
an electric guitar and work software through a partnership with
Taylor Guitars.
through standards-based § Draw and Design an
Modular Learning original guitar that is cut § Their Own Acoustic Guitar

Activities. out on CNC Machines (in-person course)

§ Their Own Electric Guitar! § Their Own Customized § Modified to Cigar Box
Electric Guitar Shape! Guitar (virtual course)

So, how did we make this virtual?

Workflow of Switching to Online Remote Learning

Ideal

Participant feedback: Reality!

§ As an instructor who uses Canvas, I know firsthand how much effort it requires to put something like a
workshop together in Canvas. You all did a great job and I will most definitely utilize most of the STEM
Guitar content and videos in our Intro to Manufacturing Lab this Fall. [a college professor participant]

§ Your Canvas course, with the all of the digital content, will be the perfect teacher resource when
instituting the STEM Guitar program. The videos were spot on and they showed me each step in the
creation of my electric guitar. As a result of all of your hard work I feel prepared to teach not only this
content but to actually make electric guitars with my students. [a high school teacher participant]

Pacing and Participant Support

To best support teachers across a wide variety of
geographic locations (East Coast to American Samoa!),
we offered a mix of asynchronous tasks with
synchronous Zoom meetings at a variety of times.

The workshop was expanded to two weeks to allow
for more flexibility.

The CNC group designed their own guitar bodies
during a pre-workshop prior to the online Electric
Guitar workshop. They then built an economy kit with
the rest of the Electric Guitar group.

Switching the Electric Guitar kits to facilitate Online Learning

To accommodate online remote
learning, our Signature Kits (top)
were switched to our Economy
Kits (bottom), that feature pre-
fretted necks and require fewer
luthier-specific tools.
Our team of instructors were each
shipped an economy kit so they
could work through the build
process ahead of time, record
instructional videos, and write
and upload content within a four-
week window.

Over 50 New Instructional Videos were
Created for the 2020 Remote Learning Institutes

Geometric Construction of Fret Spacing Troubleshooting the Neck - Part 1

Cigar box guitar

Build an Acoustic Guitar Virtually?

Building an Acoustic Guitar
requires significantly more time and
specialized tooling than does an electric
guitar, inspiring an alternate solution…

Enter: The CB Gitty Cigar Box Kit!

§ Requires very few tools and tooling
§ Not exactly the same as building an

actual acoustic guitar, but still a
realistic and valuable learning project

CNC: Computer Numerical Control

The STEM Guitar CNC sessions were presented
consecutively with the Electric Guitar sessions, providing
3-weeks of continuous instruction and creative flow

Struggles and Solutions

§ Synchronous help sessions via Zoom across various
time zones were appreciated by participants

§ Some teachers were inexperienced with the
technology and/or the LMS, requiring extra support
via calls/texts/emails/chats with team instructors

§ Discussion Q&A for each sub-
module worked really well! Helped
team instructors manage questions
and keep emails to a minimum

§ Participants created virtual learning
communities, answering questions
and supporting each other
throughout the building and
learning process

Participant feedback: Trying to manage a full basement remodel for a customer, watch a 1- and 3-
year-old, and go to the shore for a few days was a little much on top of a guitar build, but with the
help of the Q&A's, recorded zooms... it all worked out. [a high school teacher participant]

Advantages of Hosting Guitar Building Institutes Online

§ Allows more people to attend
§ 95% completion rate
§ Rockstar Friday available to a wider audience

Lessons Learned

Technical Skills Gained by Participants Knowledge Gained by Participants

Participant feedback: I also appreciate - especially in this virtual learning experience - that the instructors showed us how
to do each step in the build not only with the "preferred" tools and equipment, but they also included alternative ways to
do each step using things that we were more likely to have around the house. [a high school teacher participant]

Soft Skills Gained by Participants

More Feedback from our High School Teacher Participants

§ To say that I learned a ton, and gained confidence in being able to
implement this effectively with my students, would be an
understatement.

§ I really enjoyed this experience, and I really cannot see a subject in
which this project would not apply. Throughout these two weeks,
we have seen science ranging from explanations of finishes (e.g.
exothermic) to frequency during intonation, to cool ways to
implement math such as with the fret spacing exercises. We've seen
the use of search engines in formulating a costing spreadsheet. We
have also seen how critical details are in a project, like the difference
between .005" and .050.

§ I have learned not only technical skills, but intangible soft skills that
promote perseverance and problem solving throughout this virtual
learning workshop, and one of the best lessons I learned is that I can
be successful at things by not giving up.

§ I think the instructors were great in trying to help the participants
whenever we had particular questions via email.

§ The zoom meetings were good because ideas and thoughts were
shared by all instructors and students.

§ Feedback and help were received in a timely manner and the
instructors knew exactly how to fix it and then proceed.

§ This was such a great experience!! THANK YOU!! I can't wait to be
back in the classroom building this with my students.

Next Steps

§ The first iteration of online Canvas pages
were specifically designed for the 2020
Summer Faculty Professional Institutes

§ The STEM Guitar Project is currently
developing Canvas course shells for
teachers to upload to their own learning
management systems (LMS)

§ These shells will contain: sample syllabi
and pacing guides; links to content and
videos; resources for building; tool lists

§ Teachers can further customize and
populate their LMS with these resources

§ Additionally, we seek to expand our
Community College partnership list

We did it!
Custom Electric Guitars built at Home

via the 2020 Summer STEM Guitar Building Remote Learning Institute

A Match made in Heaven: The STEM Guitar Project and High School Classrooms

February 2020: The STEM Guitar Project and Women Walking West

Women Walking West is a
nonprofit organization designed to
remove educational barriers facing
foreign-born women seeking
education in the United States.

The STEM Guitar Summit - November 2019
Colorado School of Mines

Guitars Built Onsite at the Conference

STEM Guitar Project
Highlights on Facebook

The Sinclair Community College Production Team

The manufacturing venture is a self-
sustaining aspect of the STEM Guitar
Project. All materials and labor costs
are covered by the sales of guitar
kits and supplies, with minimal
profits, due to the non-profit style
operation of the project. The goal is
to develop and produce the best
guitar kits possible, so that all
students have the opportunity to
experience the excitement and joy
of learning through authentic,
hands-on, problem-based,
integrated STEM learning.

Ethan T Kern, Glenn E Farris, Jorge S Gonzalez,
Tom Singer, Shaun E Gibson, Charlotte S Eakin,
Andrew Shaffer, Blake Kinderdine (not pictured)

The STEM Guitar Project Guitar Kits

Guitar Kit Sales
for the Period January 2018 through December 2020

$100,000.00
$80,000.00
$60,000.00
$40,000.00
$20,000.00

$-
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2018 2019 2020

The Sinclair Community College Production Team prepares and distributes guitar
parts and kits to different program participants and implementers. It is this team
that produces the guitar kits used for electric guitar building in different educational
institutions, which makes the entire program feasible. With the new acoustic
program track in full swing, other groups are now involved in the guitar parts and
preparation mix. Import of economically feasible wood from other countries is also
being explored. In the last quarter of 2020, overall sales took a negative hit, due to
the impact of COVID-19 on schools and colleges.

The STEM Guitar Project Executive Committee

Providing Extraordinary Leadership for The STEM Guitar Project Development Team

Tom Singer Dr. Debbie French Dr. Mark French

Overall project Internal evaluation manager New product idea testing
& budget manager & curriculum development & curriculum development

Sean Hauze Doug Hunt

Web and online Acoustic
app coordinator guitar project
& The STEM development
Guitar Summit manager
manager

The STEM Guitar Project Development Team

Tom Singer Mel Cossette Mike Aikens Mark French Debbie French Doug Hunt Sean Hauze Imelda Castaneda-Emenaker

Steve Wendel Kevin Murphy Scot Rabe Steve Brown Nancy Wilson Chang Dave Parker Norm Geiger Tim Wilhelm

David Lake Eddie Ufford Rino Mazzucco Alex Moll Chad McCormack Allen Androkites Matt Peitzman James Schuelke

The STEM Guitar Project looks forward to traveling once again and
bringing this dynamic learning experience to a town near you!

Tom Singer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Sean Hauze in Cairo, Egypt
November 2019 January 2020

Project Partners
Industry Partners

Book by: Original Cover Art:
Nancy Wilson Chang Lino Martins

Contributors: Media Specialist:
Imelda Castaneda-Emenaker James Huntington Schuelke
flickr.com/photos/stemproject
Debbie French
Matthew Peitzman More info:
Website: Guitarbuilding.org
Tim Wilhelm Email: [email protected]
Kevin Murphy
Sean Hauze

Tom Singer