The Implementation of the Sustainable Instructional Patterns - Report Example

• Students would be able to differentiate natural vs. manufactured fibers and to identify the fiber characteristics (physical, chemical, and biological) of natural and manufactured fibers.
• Students would be able to apply detergency knowledge for the proper care of textiles or textile products.
• Students would be able to apply knowledge in the personal use of textile products, gain a background in the marketing of textiles products, and to initiate comparative textile testing for market use.

The physical arrangement of the classroom:

Learning Situation by Observation

The dates of observation were scheduled on the following dates; August 16th, August 21st, August 23th, August 28th, August 30th, September 6th, September 13th, and September 18th,2017. The first test was on September 20th, 2017.

Structure of the Lesson

The first session was on Wednesday, August 16th 2017 and the structure of the lesson was a presentation. In the first lecture, the instructor stated the goals of the course and discussed the syllabus with the class, Introduction to textile fibers. The lecturer wanted the students to understand the syllabus and the technical terms in textile. The subject was about textiles. It was said that textiles are materials that can be spanned into a yard, which can be woven, knitted, laced, or bonded to form a fiber. There are two major classifications of textiles which include natural fibers and manufactured fibers. Natural fibers include collusion fibers (plant), protein fibers (animal hair or secretion), and mineral fibers (earth source). On the other hand, manufactured fibers have two kinds which are cellulosic fibers (regenerated fibers with plant fiber components), such as Rayon and non-cellulosic fibers /synthetic fibers such as Polyester.

The second session was on the Monday of August 21st 2017, the lesson was continuing for the last session. The mode of lecture was in form of a presentation. The goal of the lesson was to understand the textile or fashion terms and the basic textile characteristics (physical and chemical).

• Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (TFPIA) is the act that mandates labeling of covered textile materials. The labels include RN number, country-of-origin, and percentage by weight of each fiber in the product and the generic name of the product.
• Polymerization is the process of joining small molecules to form long chains (polymers).
• Crystallinity is a fiber orientation of molecular chains. For example, fibers are referred to as “crystalline” when chains are parallel to each other as in polyester fibers.
• Amorphous is defined as molecular chains are arranged randomly such as Cotton. The fifth term was Repeating Unite, which is the block arrangement of molecules, which identifies the type of fiber.

The third session was on Wednesday, August 23th 2017. The mode of teaching was presentation. The instructor stated goals of the course in which students were to be able to define cellulosic fibers and know different types of cellulosic fibers. There are four types of Cellulosic fiber; seed fibers, bats fibers, leaf fibers and root fiber. Sources of seed fibers are Cotton, Kapok, and Coir, whereas, Bats fibers include Linen, ramie, jute, kenaf and hemp. Leaf fibers are of three types which include cactus plants (agave, sisal), banana family (abaca), and bromeliad (pineapple: pina). The last type of cellulosic fibers is root fiber. This type of fiber exists in two kinds, Sacaton and Spanish moss. The lecturer gave students an assignment in which students were supposed to search for Cotton, Kapok, and Coir images on the Internet and to find out how they looked like.

The fourth session was on Monday, August 28th 2017. The structure of the lesson was two hours Laboratory. The instructor sampled out fabrics in the class session. The goal of the lesson was to prepare the basic Textiles Kit (2015 Edition). Basic Textiles kit included Textile Fabric Consultants Sketch, pen, 126 swatches, Textile Companion CD, tape, and image magnifier. The instructor demonstrated step by step how to prepare the Textile Fabric Consultants Sketch upon which students followed suit. There were 120 kinds of fabric in the notebook which she had taped samples of each fabric before each number and name. During the lesson, Students were watching what the fashion design professor was doing. They were able to recognize 126 kinds of fibers which they had written the swatch number in the notebook from number 1 to 126 as class activity. Students also matched each fiber swatch in a specific order in the notebook. Students learned how each textile looks like by touching the materials. The lecturer taught students how to prepare fabric swatches as packaged in a specific order (126 swatches). She asked them not to remove rubber bands from swatches because the swatches were still in the same order. The sketch included swatch number, fabric name, fabric contentment, Yarn type, construction, dye/print method, finish, characteristics, possible end use, and miscellaneous (image). Students wrote numbers from 01 to 126 in the swatch number that were blank in the class as an activity. The Professor gave the students an assignment, which was to write the name of each fiber in fabric name box that was blank in the sketch.

The fifth session was on Wednesday, August 30th 2017. The structure of the lesson was both lecture and Laboratory. The first hour was lecture session and the goal of the lecture was the same as the last session which was about Cellulosic Fibers. She Presented about Cotton fiber in details. She also taught about quality of cotton fiber and types of cotton (upland cotton, American Pima, Egyptian, Asiatic, and naturally colored cotton) and finally the processing of cotton. The second hour was a laboratory session; the professor’s goal in the lab was to reference to fabric samples during the class session. She reviewed the name of each fabric in the kit for students. Thereafter, she taught students how to transfer the information from “Master List” to the “swatch kit Textile Fabric Consultants”. Students filled out fiber content, yarn type and construction under each swatch in their kit.

The sixth session was on Wednesday, September 6th 2017. The structure of the lesson was Lecture presentation and Laboratory sessions. The teacher stated goals for the course lecture in which students would be able to know what “Byproducts of Cotton” is and to complete the unit. Another goal of the laboratory was checking students’ kits which included writing fabric number, fabric name and Fibers’ content. Fashion design instructor asked students questions such as “Why is Linen an expensive fiber?” Students could not answer this question, and as such, the instructor explained that it is expensive because of the processing of linen from a field to mill.

The instructor in her lecture, talked about Byproducts of cotton which includes cotton linters, hulls, and inner seeds. The Notable characteristics of cotton fibers are in the table below:

#

Notable Characteristics of Cotton Fibers

#

Notable Characteristics of Cotton Fibers

1

Strength

11

Effect of light

2

Elasticity

12

Resistance to mildew

3

Resilience

13

Resistance to insects

4

Drapability

14

Resistance to alkalies

5

Heat conductivity

15

Resistance to acids

6

Absorbency,

16

Affinity to dyes,

7

Cleanliness/ Washability,

17

Color fastness

8

Reaction to bleaches

18

Resistance to perspiration

9

Shrinkage

19

Microscopic view

10

Effect of heat,

Linen exhibit two distinct terms, Flax (plant) and Linen (fiber). Six types of Linen are Courtrai linen, French linen, Irish linen (Nuns are making this fabric), German linen, Scottish linen, and Russian linen. There processing of linen is from a field to mill that include Cultivating, Harvesting, Fiber Removal (Rippling, Retting, Breaking, Scutching, Hackling (combing), Spinning, Weaving, Bleaching, and Dyeing.

The eighth session was on Wednesday, September 13th 2017. This was a continuation of the previous Lab session. The Instructor stated goal for the lesson which was the same as the one in the last lecture. She explained what the protein fibers obtained naturally from animal hair or insect secretions are. The other goal was to focus on characteristics, chemical properties and environmental properties of protein fibers. The instructor gave examples of two important protein fibers which were Silk and Wool fibers. Silk is solidified protein secretion produced by insects and sericulture is the cultivation of silkworms. The sources of silk are Bombyx Mori, Wild silkworm and spider. There are two types of silk which include wild silk and Duppioni. Examples of Wild silk are, such as tussah, rajah, shantung, and pongee. Silk fiber processing activities include cultivation, filature operations; manufacture of silk yarns; weaving/ knitting; finishing and dyeing/ printing. Wool is defined as a natural hair from animals, such as sheep, goat, camel and musk ox. There are six terms to be defined in wool; Merino wool, Lamb’s wool, virgin wool, wool products labeling act, woolen yarns, and worsted yarns. The Manufacturing process of wool has eleven steps which are preparation, sorting/Grading, scouring, drying, oiling, dyeing, blending, carding, roving, spinning, and weaving or knitting. Mohair, Cashmere, and Andes Camels are important source of wool fibers. Other hair fibers of wool are Angora (goat, cat, or rabbit) and Qiviut. At the end of the class, the instructor reminded students to read the three chapters of the book.

On Monday, September 18th 2017, the structure of the lesson was watching video. The teacher stated goals for the course which students were to be able to define Cotton fiber and be able to understand the steps in cotton processing. The instructor explained why cotton is comfortable textile and the reason it is called “the king.” She also talked about the history of cotton in India, England, and United States. After watching the video, students were to give the instructor notes they took before leaving the class. Instructor collected the notes at the end of the class which were to be used in grading of the students.

On Wednesday, September 20th, Fashion design professor gave students Test 1 A and Test 1 B which comprised of multiple choice questions after completion of the three chapters, taking notes from lectures, and watching videos at the classroom.

Interactions between the teacher and students or among students

In the lecture sessions, the interaction between the lecturer and the students was that the instructor gave traditional lecture and students listened and took notes. However, there were no interactions among students. Occasionally, students asked the professor questions on the topic.

In the laboratory session, the interaction between lecturer and students was Textiles sketch kit activities. Students had not had an opportunity to interact with one another because each student was working on their kits. Some students inquired from the instructor if it was okay to miss the fabric sample in the kits. She opted to give them a sample from her kit.

Use of the Technology /Device in the Classroom

Technology resource present was only one computer with a projector for the professor to use in the class for lecture presentations. Students did not have any technological devices and the lecturer did not allow any use of electronic devices, such as cellular phones, iPods and laptops during the lessons as written in the syllabus. The professor used PowerPoint presentation in her lectures. Her presentation included a lot of pictures and in one session; students watched a video as they took notes.