Hello Lyndal!
For the past several years I have been doing an "annual" woodturning demonstration for the woodworking classes at our High School, and it has grown in popularity to the extent that students are given passes from their regular classes on that day to come and watch my demonstration (typically on bowl turning, basics of tool use, and design elements). As with your experience, woodturning is very popular at our high school - nearly all students taking wood shop classes at least try their hand at it (so I'm told), and some have made award-winning pieces submitted to our regional industrial arts student conference. There are waiting lists for students to get their time at the lathe here too!!
Several points to stress at your conference are that woodturning provides for intellectual development by enabling students to express individual creativity in a dynamic fashion in real time. Unlike flat-work, where plans often prescribe dimensions, joinery, and anticipated outcomes of the project, which are usually known in advance of beginning the work (this is also seen in segmented turning) requiring "following directions"; many woodturning projects develop "on the fly", depending on the characteristics of the blank being used. This makes it necessary for students to make critical decisions at various time points before proceeding - to evaluate the status quo and move ahead, and bring the project to completion. These are somewhat different mental processes - both should be encouraged and developed
Woodturning develops students' abilities for three-dimensional interpretation of the developing form, and furthers their understanding of geometric shapes, technical aspects of tool presentation and methods of use, and improves hand-eye coordination on a fine scale. Further, it provides for individual creativity more than any other version of woodworking (i.e. building typical shop 'flatwork' projects, scroll sawing, etc.) through simple manipulation of curves, proportions, shape of rim, foot, etc. - all within easy control of the turner.
For students with shorter attention spans, ADD, etc. doing woodturning projects on the lathe provides for more-or-less "immediate gratification", in that the time from start to finish of a turning project (e.g. a small, simple bowl) can be done within one class period, and that the results seen by the student can be realized quickly (the same can not be said of projects requiring joinery, glue-ups, and sanding/finishing, etc.). This is important for those students who lack the ability to wait for and anticipate the completion of a more complex project requiring multiple pieces, joinery, etc. Also, the fundamental methods skill sets between flatwork and turning are quite distinct from one another.
Although I am a botanist/biologist teaching at the University level, I have been around education all my life (my father taught high school science throughout his career, my sister is a middle school science teacher, my father-in-law was a high school German teacher, etc.). I think some of the educational benefits of turning go beyond just working with wood, and include several skill sets that should be developed in primary and secondary schools. Unfortunately these opportunities are diminishing as hands-on programs such as wood shop and metal shop continue to go extinct in more and more school systems. I applaud your efforts in keeping this alive in your school system.
I hope this is the kind of information you were looking for (not quite using "education-speak" terminology, but close!).
Rob Wallace
(Assoc. Professor of Botany, Iowa State University)
