Teachers from Floyd County and around the state received a lesson in real-word problem solving this week thanks to the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies Regional Mini-Institute held Thursday and Friday at the Floyd County College and Career Academy.

The program focuses on interdisciplinary curriculum for secondary and post-secondary students, said Georgia Ford PAS consultant Leah Felcher, and teachers should be able to take the lessons they learn back to their students.

Frank Pinson, CEO of the career academy, said he attended an event in California where students who were products of the program spoke about

how they benefited from what their teachers had learned.

Pinson said the program’s focus on group projects and teamwork is appealing.

“Students become problem solvers,” he said. “Hopefully we can turn out potential workers who are problem solvers, who can work in a team, who are technical, who understand the importance of math and science in the workplace.”

On Friday, the teachers split into groups to create a new product for a fictional soda company and had to plan out every detail as if they were really launching a new brand, from caffeine content and packaging to advertising and production concerns. While the teachers only had a few hours to work out the proposal, students might have a few days.

“If the adults are so enthusiastic about this, imagine how a class of high school students would do with it,” said Pinson.

Ronda Alexander, professional development and technical assistance specialist for the Ford program, said teachers responded well to the ideas presented.

“They felt rejuvenated. They felt inspired to go back and try this in their own classrooms,” she said.

About 45 teachers participated in the two-day mini-institute in Rome.

Ford PAS is a national high school curriculum that encourages students to work together to solve real-world problems and identify opportunities in challenging fields such as business, engineering, technology, alternative energy and global economics. The College and Career Academy was selected to be a Ford PAS Next Generation School by the Ford Motor Co. Fund last year, becoming one of 12 such schools in the country and the first in the state of Georgia.