Virtual Lathe - Christchurch Boys' High School
Student using a lathe
Students working with the Virtual Lathe program
Results
The students loved working on it and Hans notes that it was good to have them sitting in an environment without the distractions of the workshop – "they were quietly absorbed”. He could tell from the whole atmosphere in the class that they were enjoying it, and many picked it up during a wet lunchtime. Hans says it gave the students a good head start and made his teaching a lot easier.
The students were asked to try and make something on the virtual lathe and then replicate it. Hans feels that he would develop this more next time. He did attempt this but most didn't achieve what he'd hoped, with many struggling, partly because of difficulty with the programme which kept locking and had to be rebooted each time. He says that the students were a little bit frustrated by this but it is not a major problem, rather one that can be overcome relatively easily.
Hans' reaction to working with the virtual lathe is that he would like to see it expanded into other skills, such as welding, or any machinery operated in the workshop.
If using this again Hans would expect his class to produce a particular piece of work as their 'certificate', on the understanding that once they could produce this on the virtual lathe he would let them move on to the machine.
At the conclusion of the work students said that using the virtual lathe prepared them for using the real thing. It brought home to them that the lathe is not something they can play around with and that they need to practice. They were also grateful that when they broke something in their virtual work they weren't faced with pieces flying out at them.
