Hobart
Curriculum
By
Jesse Glover
Welding Student
Middle Bucks Institute of
Technology
Jamison, Pennsylvania
As part of a high school assignment, Jesse chose to
explore the curriculum of the Hobart Institute to learn if
this material would provide the proper direction he will need
to pursue a welding career.
First of all, I will clear up the
misunderstanding about welding and technical school.
Welding is sometimes perceived as a dirty, painstaking
job. However, it
is not just for juvenile delinquents.
Welding takes skill, patience, and training.
And, yes, with welding you can go to college and get a
successful job. The
topic for this paper is the curriculum of the Hobart Institute
of Welding Technology and how it will prepare me for a
successful career. In
my welding class at Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, we
follow the Hobart curriculum and I am conducting this research
to learn if this training material will steer me in the right
direction.
What does a student need to become
successful in welding? There
are requirements, which include completion of high school and
some vocational education.
Post secondary education is helpful and it increases
one’s chance for a better career.
Math is really an important subject if you intend to
pursue a welding career.
One has to know angles and how to use protractors and
compasses. Adding, subtracting, fractions, and other basic
math skills are necessary.
Also there is some geometry involved, for example, the
Pythagorean theorem. One
needs to be able to use drawing instruments to make blue
prints, to use gauges and read to a ruler to make accurate
measurements.
Knowledge of chemistry is important.
The mixing of welding and cutting gases for oxyfuel
welding, brazing, and cutting involves chemistry.
The uses of these gases are critical to a welder.
One needs to know that when different gases are mixed,
different results are achieved.
Sometimes a hotter flame is obtained with certain
mixtures, while other mixtures will produce a colder flame.
One needs to know how the valve adjustments to the gases will
change the result.
One also needs to understand metals
through the study of metallurgy.
Metallurgy involves the strength, brittleness,
hardness, and toughness of the metal after it has been heated
and cooled. Metallurgy
reveals how a metal reacts to extreme heat and extreme cold
temperatures.
Communication skills are needed.
One has to talk to and understand the boss or fellow
employees to understand what the welder/student is supposed to
do. If you choose to operate your own company, you will need to
communicate with your customers and suppliers.
A sense of responsibility is necessary
to be successful. If
a job has a specific completion date and the welder has it
done a day after and/or it is done wrong, they may not get
paid. If a welder
is working for someone else, they need to be at work every day
on time.
Knowledge of safe working habits is
important. There
is also a chance that one might have to work in inclement
weather, on high scaffolding or tall buildings.
There is a potential hazard of explosive and flammable
material in welding areas.
Sometimes welders have to work in awkward positions and
lift heavy objects.
The most important part of welding and
doing quality work is having technical skills.
These skills are acquired during training at a
technical or a post secondary school.
This is where the training materials provided by the
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology come into play.
How does Hobart incorporate all these skills into their
curriculum?
Paul Carney, a certified welder and
the welding instructor at Middle Bucks, says this about the
Hobart curriculum: “It
is designed to implement the multiple intelligences through
kinesthetic, visual, and spatial using training resources such
as student workbooks, independent learning guides, hands on
shop work, and video tapes.
Hobart Institute is nationally recognized as a training
facility in resources by publishing companies, curriculum
centers, and the AWS (American
Welding Society) for the training and certification of
entry level and advanced welders alike.”
The Hobart curriculum includes videos
on safety to make sure a safe environment is maintained for high
school and technical training.
The curriculum also includes an instructor’s guide,
student manuals, and tests. Hobart is helping the teacher by providing the comprehensive
and correct materials so that the instructor teaches the
students correctly.
The recently revised SMAW-B
(Shielded Metal Arc Welding-Basic) coursework from the
Hobart Institute includes practice for the AWS D1.1 Structural
Welding Code and the AWS QC-10 certification on the last two
topics. This video
series displays topics for practice with all kinds of rods, in
all different positions, and on all thicknesses.
In this audiovisual training system, a welder in the
videos shows the students exactly what to do.
They explain what rod, technique, polarity, and heat, is
necessary to perform the weld.
Videos
are broken into manageable skill steps with close up
demonstrations of the welds students are expected to perform.
The workbook is designed to help students recreate the
welds back at the booth.
At
the beginning of each of the videos there is a section
pertaining to safety. This
video is shown before any welding is done, so students know how
to practice safe methods throughout their entire stay in the
class. These safety
techniques will hopefully carry over with the student in the
field. Math is also
included in a short lesson, where students learn minor math,
like fractions, adding, and subtracting.
Chemistry is taught in the oxy-fuel sections.
Of course, metallurgy is always considered for study.
For example, when a student is in the booth, he has to
set the heat. In
order to do that, the student has to know at what temperature
the metal is going to melt, as well as what temperature is too
cold for the metal.
Hobart Institute has already revised
the GMAW-B
(Gas Metal Arc Welding-Basic) and the SMAW-B
(Shielded Metal Arc Welding-Basic) requirements to meet the
Entry Level Curriculum standards.
Hobart is in the process of revising the GTAW-B
(Gas Tungsten Arc Welding- Basic) and has plans for the FCAW-B
(Flux Core Arc Welding-Basic) programs.
Hobart’s curriculum materials are recognized around the
world as excellent learning tools.
During development, Steve
Houston, the Director of Training Materials Development for
Hobart, contacted and asked instructors what they wanted in the
course. He also
based the curriculum on the AWS (American Welding Society)
specifications for entry-level welder certification (QC10 Entry
Level Welder Standard and EG2.0 Entry Level Welder curriculum
guidelines). Students
and adults seeking additional training or are just becoming
interested in training, come from all over the earth to obtain
quality training at The Hobart Institute of Welding Technology.
Robert Daniel Wilson stated, “I was
a welder’s helper before coming to Hobart,” said Danny.
“But I’ve learned a lot at HIWT.” (“Students
Travel from Alaska to Obtain Quality Training at The Hobart
Institute of Welding Technology.”
The World of Welding, Fall 1998.)
In conclusion, if I stay with the
Middle Bucks Institute Technology welding program and I fulfill
all of the criteria under the Hobart curriculum, I will have a
very successful career. A
certified welder can obtain an adequate job right out of high
school. However
advanced training provides them with additional skills that may
be more marketable in the workplace.
In fact, a welder with his AWS-QC10, just out of high
school can make close to twenty dollars an hour.
Also some unions will knock off one or two years of
apprenticeship following some welding training programs.
This is because the first or second year of union
apprenticeship consists of achieving their AWS-D1.1 Structural
Welding Code certification.
There are many other
opportunities for young welders. For example, you could go to
Alaska and weld on the pipeline; or join the U.S.
Navy and weld on ships and submarines.
You could apply to an oil company to work on an off shore
oil rig; or if you prefer, you can just stay home and weld for a
small, manufacturing company.
It is also quite possible that you may never actually
weld again, but rather become a salesman or technician to repair
welders. So, if you
are looking for money and opportunity, and do not mind a bit of
the dirt or grime, then welding is an awesome job.
After getting past the awkward positions, the dirtiness,
and the lifting, it is a good job.
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