You can get alot of good teaching/learning out of plain old limited thickness groove welds with backing...
Write a number of WPS's (prequalified)
Have certain projects beveled by hand grinding, some by hand flame cutting, some by track burner. This will help them learn to pay attention to tollerences and following code directions.
Have students remove backing bars by flame scarfing, sawing if you have a good bandsaw. It is amazing how they will begin to pay attention to detail when they scarf through the first set!
Do some with back gouge and back weld employing both Air Carbon Arc and grinding.
Have the students do the work to prepare the coupons for inspection... Being sure to mentor them on grinding direction and check thickness at the weld to make sure they do not remove any parent thickness..
I am also a big believer in fillet break tests... They are easy, take no special tools, and really do show a student the importence of proper gun angles and parameters.
This will keep them busy with SMAW, GMAW (spray) and FCAW.
With the SMAW and FCAW they can do single bevel (alternate groove in D1.1) on the Horizontal grooves.. This can demonstrate the effeciency and productivity gained by this particular joint configuration.
GMAWP is not a prequalified process so in order to provide certs you would need to qualify procedures. Same story with GMAW with short circuit except that with this process you can get an SWPS which is just fine for a school.
The AWS SENSE program also has an excellent curriculum guide and provides WPS's for all processes and materials (Steel, aluminum & Stainless) which are apropriate for school driven certs. The bang for your buck with the SENSE program is the best bargain in the AWS stable.
For GTAW I think AWS D9.1 sheet metal code is a good place to look for schools... Visual inspection for the exams and procedures can be qualified pretty easily in house (No RT or tensiles required) D9.1 also covers a variety of metals where D1 is strictly steel and only covers steel 1/8" and thicker.
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