Gather ‘round and listen up, kids. If you’re going to an elementary school and there isn’t a 3D printer lab, you’re getting screwed — probably because you didn’t get into the magnet program. Because, if you want to get ahead of the technological curve so that you can build something truly innovative, you need to get into 3D printing. Walt Disney Magnet School in Chicago has the right idea.
The elementary school, with about 1,650 students, is about to order $40,000 in equipment from Inventables to create a “Makers Lab”. Inventables will not only be providing the equipment for the lab, but will be installing it and helping the school use it, as well. The school, which is still planning its 3D printing curriculum, hopes to use the lab to, not only teach its own students about the new technology and the STEM education that goes with it, but to assist students at other schools. In particular, Disney is hoping to work with blind students at another school to teach them to read braille. Students at the magnet school would create objects with accompanying braille labels, creating a new tactile learning system including the representations of the objects and their braille counterparts.
Disney technology coordinator Brad Fisher explains the lab’s altruistic motives, “We envision our students engaging in projects that are going to make the world a better place, that are going to improve the lives of people.” Andrew Russell, a science teacher who will be teaching in the lab, sees the real-world, entrepreneurial benefit that the technology will give his students, saying, “<i”>We always talk about our kids and say, ‘You’re going to do something in this or that,’ but we always say — ‘You’re going to’, whereas here, it’s ‘You’re going to — right now,’ and this is an exciting time in science for that.” And Stone Brown, a student in the 6th grade, sees the lab as augmenting her learning experience, “We get to learn new stuff, and when we do learn new stuff it’s interesting, it’s never boring.”
I know what you’re thinking, kids: your run down public school could use that money to buy toilet paper and toner. Well, as the school’s principal, Kathleen Hagstrom, puts it, “There is no question we do not just rely on Chicago Public Schools funds. You have to be creative with how you get money for your school.” The funds for the lab were mostly acquired through a deal that Hagstrom has earned Disney by renting out its building and parking lot. This isn’t the first time the school has benefitted from money outside of the Chicago Public School system. Diane Disney, daughter of the school’s namesake, donated more than $700,000 to the school, $250,000 of which went to developing an animation lab and $100,000 to create a digital media lab.
The principal is in the process of seeking other businesses willing to contribute to the Makers Lab initiative. Brad Fisher describes Hagstrom as pretty savvy in this regard, “Dr. Hagstrom has a very strong head for business and cutting deals, and I say she has the skill set to run a Fortune 500 company. She’s been able to find ways for this school to generate revenue that has allowed us to implement some of these programs that are benefiting our students.” In the midst of a record number of public school closings to make room for publicly funded, privately run charter schools, it seems that Hagstrom may have the right idea.
Source and Photos: DNAinfo
