At first glance, the Upper School’s Innovation Lab is a very impressive place indeed. With its plethora of high tech equipment, power tools, projects-in-progress, two-story ceiling, natural lighting, and busy students, there is typically a sense of action whenever one walks by.

 

We are very proud of this space of course. Now in its third year of operation, the Innovation Lab has truly catapulted our STEM program into another league, where students can design and build an array of projects, both in the context of a structured class or as independent, often entrepreneurial, endeavors.

 

It can also be a somewhat intimidating place for some students and adults, too. What do I do in there? Is it OK for me to go in? are two questions students might ask before stepping through the door. Indeed, we can boast about our Epilog Helix Laser Cutter/Engraver, but what does it actually do?

 

I’ll attempt to de-mystify the space for the uninitiated and also offer some thoughts as to how it has opened up some amazing new opportunities in our curriculum.  The Innovation Lab combines many state-of-the-art machines with some good old-fashioned hand tools. We have described the space as a 20^th-century shop class meets 21^st –century design and technology. Our students might find themselves cutting items with the table saw just as much as they use the 3D printer or laser cutter. Either way, the skills we develop in this space are consistent with our overall goals for students: increase their ability to be critical thinkers and problem solvers, develop their capacity to work in teams and small groups, encourage their risk-taking, innovative, and creative capabilities.

 

Because we have this wonderful lab, there are numerous Innovations electives offered now that obviously would not have been possible before. This year’s catalog includes Toy Making, Needs-Based Design, Functional Design, Computer Aided Design & Fabrication and Flight, all taught by Chris Roads. We also have our exciting year-long elective called Tiny House, for which a group of students will be re-purposing an old CA school bus into a functioning tiny house, under the guidance of teachers Katy Hills and Chris Roads. In the past two years, over 200 students or about 1/2 of our Upper School have actively used the lab, either as part of a class or as members of the school’s thriving Engineering Club. Classes in all three divisions of the schools have used the lab in some ways, so it has also helped us expand our interdisciplinary offerings as well.

 

And that laser cutter I mentioned? This machine can cut and engrave on a wide range of materials, particularly plywood. Students design things via a user-friendly software program like Corel Draw and then send that design through to the laser cutter, much as one sends a document to a printer.

 

Many of the most exciting projects have been made to fill a need, like the special desk made for one of our students who is in a wheelchair, or Will Creedon designing re-usable school nametags, or Julia Kelly creating a new student space outside the library, or David Schurman using flex sensors and an Arduino board to control a 3-D printed robotic hand, or Jonathan Rockford fashioning a droid copter that could assist search and rescue teams in hard-to-reach locations.  These are just some of the many projects our students have worked on or are currently working on at this time.

In the future we know even more students will take advantage of the Innovation Lab. We are emphasizing the idea that students should Think, Create, Innovate, and certainly no space on campus better helps students bring big ideas to fruition.