Summary Cadet Papers Professors Class of 2002

Virginia Military Institute     General Education Pilot Program Spring 1999 Theme: Iron Manufacturing in the 19th Century Shenandoah Valley

The Virginia Military Institute's General Education Pilot Program was developed to show VMI Rats (4th Classmen) how the four core curriculum courses are integrated. This year's General Education theme dealt with researching the iron manufacturing industry in the Valley of Virginia, primarily Rockbridge County, during the mid to late 1800's. The research devoted to this project encompassed all aspects related to the iron industry, ranging from slavery to the geology of the iron ores. This year's program consisted of 12 cadets from the Class of 2002; each cadet was responsible for researching one of the aspects dealing with the iron industry. These cadets traveled to Buffalo Forge, the home of Ironmaster William Weaver, in Rockbridge County, to learn of Weaver's life, see the slave quarters, and the location of the old forge. The cadets traveled to Augusta County to gather iron ore samples for their blast furnace. Their English and History courses were integrated by writing term papers on the iron industry. Their Calculus and Chemistry Class/Lab allowed the cadets to use their mathematical knowledge to calculate the percentage of the iron in ore samples that they had analyzed in lab. At the end of the semester, the cadets helped fire a charcoal powered iron blast furnace, designed by local blacksmith, Lee "Ironman" Sauder.

In order to recreate how iron was transported in the 19th century, the cadets took a canoe trip on the Maury River. The final leg of the project brought the group of cadets to Richmond, Virginia's Tredegar Iron Works, the main foundry of the Confederacy. This year's General Education Pilot Program allowed cadets to learn how the iron industry was important not only to the economy of the Valley of Virginia but to the entire South.

  Link to PowerPoint Slide Show Presentation on the Overview of the Iron Making Industry and the GE Program

(To view this slide show with Internet Explorer, just click the link.  To view it with Netscape, you must have PowerPoint on your computer.  Netscape will ask whether to open or save the file.  Click "Open." PowerPoint will then run as a separate application.  Click on "Slide Show" and "View Show" [less convenient than IE, but you'll get a full screen slide show instead of seeing it within the browser].  Netscape users who want to see a version of the slide show without the special effects, click here.)
 

  Click here to see a museum display created as part of this project.
 
 

The Blast Furnace

Slavery

Charcoaling

Geology

VMI

Tredegar Iron Works

Transportation

Colonel Alan Baragona, Director

Colonel Kenneth Koons, History

Colonel John Leland, English

Colonel George Piegari, Math

Colonel Steven Riethmiller, Chemistry
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Webmaster: Cadet Jason Breeding '02

Last updated 21 June 1999

This page has been visited times.