Carmichaels Area schools to introduce new technology lab
From left, Carmichaels Middle School Principal Ron Gallagher, STEM teacher Brittany Phillips, sixth-grade science teacher Megan Wojtowicz and high school Principal Lisa Zdravecky, stand next to a case of touchscreen laptops and a 3D printer that the district recently purchased through grants.
Carmichaels STEM teacher Brittany Phillips explains how to operate a 3D printer, which the district recently purchased through grants.
CARMICHAELS – Carmichaels students will have a new “maker space” technology lab to explore this school year.
The district recently received $50,000 worth of grants from the Intermediate Unit and Community Foundation of Greene County to purchase two 3D printers, 50 touchscreen laptops and a vinyl cutter.
School officials planned to use an empty classroom in the middle school for a “maker space” technology lab, where middle and high school students can use the equipment for classes and special projects that pertain to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“It’s basically a STEM lab,” middle school Principal Ron Gallagher said. “We’ve spent a year trying to build a program for this lab that will tie into what the students are learning in math and science.”
The district plans to move its T-shirt press into the lab and also have humming bird kits for middle school students to learn how to program a robotic hummingbird. Gallagher said the vinyl cutter can be used to cut out inspirational sayings or quotes to put up on the walls.
The 3D printers open a new world of opportunity for students, he said. For example, if students are learning about how windmills make electricity, they will be able to build a small windmill model with the printers, which make 3D objects out of fiber.
Gallagher said the printers can make cellphone cases, plastic molds, figurines and many other things the students could make and relate back to what they learn in class.
“We’re really trying to make risk-takers through this process and teach them to think outside the box,” Gallagher said. “We want things that are going to enhance and encourage what’s taking place in the classroom already.”
The lab will complement a new STEM program the school began last year when Brittany Phillips began as a STEM teacher for the middle and high school. Last year, she started her quarterlong classes for the middle and high school students.
Last year, most of what the students learned was coding and computer programming. Phillips said she is excited this year to have the lab, which is expected to be completed by November.
“The kids are going to like it,” she said. “The first year will be about training them on the equipment and teaching them how to use it.”
Phillips and Gallagher also talked about possibly starting a small store for students to sell their creations, be it pens, pencils, clothing or other school-related materials they create with the 3D printers.
“It adds a whole new dimension to learning and to the stem electives that we do,” Gallagher said. “There are a lot of jobs that are forecasted in the STEM area and right now I feel like there’s a deficit in the training for those jobs.”
Lisa Zdravecky, high school principal, said the students are already excited about the new lab and she suspects the experience the students will gain from the lab will keep them competitive when applying to college.
“We’re putting our funds and money into keeping our students competitive,” she said. “We’re trying to get each level of STEM in there. No matter what field the students go into that critical thinking is a skill they’ll need to take with them.”