Fab Lab!
Students at Rotolo Middle School have a new environment for learning and growing. At the back of the LRC, an old computer lab was turned into a “Fab Lab” this summer.
RMS LRC Director Kelly Cook applied for a grant from the Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence and received funding to create this new lab designed for discovery and experimentation and to align with curriculum in RMS classrooms.
“With the Fab Lab, we’re trying to get students who don’t normally come to the library,” said Mrs. Cook. “It’s meant to be a place to connect kids with different interests, and a place where kids can test their limits, use their creativity, fail at experiments, and keep persevering.”
The lab includes monthly challenges. In August, students were challenged to build specific structures using KEVA Brain Builders planks.
Students can use Snap Circuits, Ozobots, littleBits, Makey Makey, and other invention kits and electronic supplies in the lab. They can also use the lab’s green screen for experimenting with video and take advantage of the lab’s collection of discovery-based reading materials, such as beanz magazine and a series of “Kids Can Code” books.
Rotolo Middle School LRC Director Kelly Cook by the STEM-related reading selections in the Fab Lab.
Recent BHS graduate Allison Gearheart painted the Fab Lab logo on the wall over the summer, which coordinates with the new flexible seating designed for small group collaboration.
“Jupiter” stools that look like something out of “The Jetsons” fit together to form bench-type seating and are easily moveable in the space.
“I’m really excited about this new environment, which will continue to evolve as we follow student use and need. It’s a great start to the 2018-19 school year and personalized learning.“
