"What's Up in Factories?" is a dynamic new curriculum developed by Thirteen/WNET, the PBS flagship station, to help students get a handle on the new world of manufacturing and the opportunities that it offers.

Manufacturing today offers a wide array of career choices that are attractive to high school and college graduates. Teamwork, kaizen (continuous improvement) and lean manufacturing now mean something to those students who have participated in the WNET program and are aware of the impact manufacturing has on their daily lives. And in workshops designed specifically for them, teachers are being trained to communicate the pleasures one can derive from making things, whether as part of the assembly team or seated at a manager's desk. This novel approach involves experiential learning for both faculty and students with a close-up look at the world of manufacturing as it existed in the industrial age and at recent trends that have changed the workplace and society.

"Public television has always sought to enhance educational opportunities, and we're glad to provide the resources and impetus for students and teachers to evaluate the way they learn today, so that they can succeed tomorrow," said William J. Baker, Jr., President of Thirteen/WNET, who holds a graduate degree in industrial psychology.

WNET prepared a teacher's guide with detailed lesson plans, student worksheets with class activities and projects, and a step-by-step guide to visiting factories, as well as a four-color poster. Encouraged by the success of the guide, WNET's Educational Video Service Department produced a lively instructional video, narrated by popular teen actors, showing the human dimension of manufacturing along with footage of state-of-the-art manufacturing and design facilities.

The project is funded by the International Business Communications Council (IBCC), a nonprofit organization comprised of Japanese industrial associations in the automobile and electronics sectors. IBCC member companies including Toyota, Nissan, Oki, Sony and Matsushita have participated in the program by offering tours to teachers and students.

"Despite its importance in today's world, manufacturing is not generally a subject included in secondary school curricula, and few people - young or old - are aware of the dynamic changes that are transforming factories into increasingly sophisticated, knowledge-intensive and globally connected workplaces," said Iwao Ojima, Chairman of IBCC.

Launched through the educational outreach departments at public television stations during the 1994/1995 school year, What's Up In Factories? pilot sites included Huntington Beach (KOCE) and San Francisco (KQED), California; Nashville (WDCN), Tennessee, Georgia (GPTV), Kentucky (KET) and New York and New Jersey (WNET).

Each station hosted a half-day teacher training workshop for approximately 50 educators that included a multimedia approach, with slides, video and hands-on activities that help instructors recognize the parallels between a factory associate's approach to work and their own approaches to daily tasks. The agendas also included presentations from the business community followed by a tour of a manufacturing facility. Most teachers returned to their schools and offered in-service training to their colleagues.

This year, "What's Up In Factories?" goes to San Diego (KPBS), Columbus (WOSU), and Dallas (KERA). Sarah Thompson, Vice President for Education for the Nashville-area Chamber of Commerce, lauded the program as essential for preparing students for the work environment and said that it had all the elements of a good school-to-work transition program as well as college prep. "The Chamber has long been involved in education, but we've only recently started to focus on making the connection between what children are doing in schools and what they'll be doing in the real world as employees. This kind of program is very important to bring teachers and businesses together."

A critical component of the project is taking students on a tour of a factory so that they can see new trends in action. If it is a plant that does not employ some or all of these newer techniques, a class can discuss how this may impact operational strategies and outcomes in terms of production quality and employee satisfaction. The tours dispel old beliefs that factories are loud, dirty, dehumanized places of work. On each of the teacher- workshop tours, factory representatives elaborate on the positive impacts of new trends: teamwork, increased efficiency, fewer customer complaints, lower employee turnover and a sense of pride in the work accomplished.

Teachers also have had an opportunity to learn what qualifications and skills companies are seeking. Some teachers were surprised to find that few employers will hire a student immediately upon graduation from high school. Maryann Lyons of Francisco Middle School in San Francisco, said, "I see the importance of exposing my students to all kinds of careers, including ones that do not require college. They need to see first-hand what their career possibilities can be."

Manufacturers that hosted tours last year were Ford Motor Co., in Rahway, New Jersey; Krementz Jewelry Company, in Newark, New Jersey; Oki Telecom in Suwanee, Georgia; Nissan in Smyrna, Tennessee; Toyota in Lexington, Kentucky; NUMMI in Fremont; Nippondenso in Los Angeles, California; and Materials Research Corp. in Orangeburg, New York.

According to many businesses and school administrations involved, the program strengthens the symbiotic relationship between business, which is dependent upon youth for its future success, and students, who look to some of the many careers in manufacturing for gainful and satisfying employment.

"What's Up In Factories?" not only helps students explore opportunities beyond conventional white-collar expectations, but encourages schools to explore alternative teaching methods to strengthen their institutions' influence in tomorrow's society.