Teaching Kids Quality at TechFest™ — A Quality for Life Story

Children count marshmallows to learn about the cost of quality at TechFest.

TechFest™ is a free annual event for kids and families in Dayton, Ohio, that aims to make subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fun for students. Members of ASQ’s Dayton Section, specifically George Thielen, Lyle Lockwood, and Sandy Feola, have contributed to the program by promoting quality principles at TechFest. By using their passion and skills to introduce the next generation of workers to the quality profession, these ASQ members personify Quality for Life.

For the past six years, the Affiliate Societies Council of Dayton has hosted TechFest. K-12 students can enjoy more than 70 interactive exhibits and demonstrations during the two-day event. Through TechFest, the ASQ Dayton Section has provided quality professionals with a unique opportunity to introduce children to quality tools and techniques through interactive demonstrations.

"Quality is more important than quantity for TechFest," said Lockwood. "We want to make sure that students get a genuine experience that will hopefully lead them to a career in quality."

At TechFest 2009, the ASQ Dayton Section held a demonstration that helped teach kids the value of statistics using cereal. The demo went like this: Two cups were filled with two brands of cereal that both contain marshmallows (one name brand and a generic brand). Students were asked to displace both cups onto a plate and count the marshmallows in the two cereals. The different amounts were displayed on an X/Y chart. This simple demonstration taught students the cost of quality, since they would likely purchase the cereal that had the greater content of marshmallows.

Over the past six years, TechFest has registered more than 12,684 children. While this is an impressive number, the group hopes to increase attendance, especially since there are currently 20,000 jobs in science and technology in Dayton. Techfest has also benefitted from the ASQ Community Good Works program, which has provided grants to the program for the past two years.

If you use your passion for quality at work, in your personal life, or in volunteer efforts to make a difference in people’s lives, we’d like to hear from you as part of our Quality for Life initiative. Please submit stories to qualityforlife@asq.org. Also, be sure to visit our blog at http://www4.asq.org/blogs/quality-life/.