New $1.8M STEAM facility at Madison's Country School to help burgeoning program grow

As part of the Three Little Pigs Engineering STEAM project, kindergartners Stella Hebert and William Eltorai build little "houses" out of heavy construction paper and toothpicks stuck into gumdrops.

 

But outside the classroom, a construction crew will build something more permanent on The Country School campus: a wood-frame 2,280-square-foot Student Makerspace and Engineering Facility to expand the school’s popular STEAM program, which has outgrown the school. 

The new space will provide “a more conductive environment for hands-on learning and experimentation,” said Teresa Sullivan, director of communications.

Science teacher Ben Taylor agreed, adding the new facility will allow students and teachers “to really use our spaces fully.” Taylor is director of information systems, teaches fifth and sixth grade technology.

Groundbreaking took place last month at 341 Opening Hill Road and construction is expected to be completed in October. The new facility will provide expanded classroom and lab space for STEAM curriculum, as well as house maintenance staff and equipment. 

The Country School is the one of the few middle schools in the country with dedicated STEAM programs for preschool to eighth grade students, according to Sullivan. And the kindergarten program is an example of that.

The $1.8 million building will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and equipment, part of the school’s mission to offer specialized programs in STEAM, Sullivan said. 

While there is one dedicated “makerspace” now, the Duffy STEAM Lab, it's jam-packed with equipment and science projects in progress.

Jostling for space are three 3-D printers and a giant green screen for kids to make movies and videos with special effects. On a large table, LEGO kit pieces are scattered or partially assembled for Robotics. Bins with more LEGO parts fill shelves. The room is also used as an impromptu study hall.

“And it's cool stuff, but you can see — since it's so multi-purpose — it just winds up, slowly over time, winding up in disarray,” Taylor said as he pointed out the room’s jumble of contents.

Currently, there is also a multipurpose science classroom in the Blatchford Learning Center where students do experiments and projects. 

But due to space constraints, science materials are rolled in and out on carts. Students may use an electric jigsaw for a woodworking project at one lab bench, which will later be tidied up for chemistry experiments in the next class.

For now, teachers and students make do and seem to take joy in the in the projects and experiments. 

In The Three Little Pigs project, kindergartners are studying the basics of architecture.

In the classroom, teacher Claudia Esposito said with a smile she is “a teacher by trade, but I love science and engineering.” 

She also runs a science and engineering business on the side, called Coolology and seems passionate about teaching both disciplines to her young students. Esposito tries to make it fun.

“We're focused on the engineering design process and they're learning it and knowing it,” she said.

The students learned about drawing plans — just like real architects — for their handmade houses. They gathered the necessary materials and then got to work building. 

Then comes the fun part — the testing.

“And they all get to use the blow dryer. It's their favorite part,” Esposito said with a laugh. 

“If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And we go back, and we improve, right?” she told the students who seemed worried their creations wouldn't stand the test.

Armed with the hair dryer, called “The Big Bad Wolf,” with a paper wolf’s head taped on top, Eltorai was ready. As a final touch, Esposito placed a little toy pig atop the roof. With a look of concentration on their faces, the students turned up the dryer to full blast. Success — the houses move but still stand and the little pig gets blown around.

They also made gumball stick homes, fashioned out of toothpicks and hardened gumballs that resemble a geodesic dome and a basic house shape. The students weren't tempted to eat the sweet building materials, "They’re two years old,” Eltorai said.

Students learn about the differences between the paper and stick houses and learn about shapes as well.

“So, we talk about 2-dimensional shapes and 3-dimensional shapes, and we talk all about what they look like and how they work and how we can put them together,” Esposito said.

For the older students, STEAM work is more challenging. From making a working facsimile of a human arm with hinges for joints to creating objects that fill a need or solve a problem using a 3-D printer.

All these projects involve engineering, noted Taylor.

“And I think the real purpose of it is that engineers — engineering, is solving problems, but engineers don't solve their own problems. The whole point is to solve other people's problems,” he said.

When the fifth graders got the chance to use the 3-D printers, Taylor had them “workshop” ideas with the teachers to see what items would help them in their daily lives. The fifth graders used the high-tech printers to make everyday objects, but with features to meet specific needs. 

After many tries, they created simple articles such as glasses’ holders for a desk with a teacher’s nameplate, a sturdy jewelry tree for an art teacher and a charger cord holder that won’t slide off a nightstand. 

Fifth graders Stella Darling, Emma Stanet and Sadie Sharp are proud to show their finished products alongside their first attempts, blobs of mangled plastic.

“And so, they have some examples of like first, second, third versions of things,” Taylor said..

The students are eager for the building to be finished.

“I don't think all three of us have heard that much about it, but we're really excited to see it. It's like, excited for the surprise,” one fifth grader said.

Eighth grader Griffin Lariviere, whose mom works at the library, won’t get to take classes at the new building, but he hopes to be able to check it out.

“I'm very excited. I'm going to be graduating before it's finished. My mom's the librarian, I'll still get to see it.”

Lariviere recently did an independent research project using a powerful magnet and several different sized metal balls to see if the size of the spheres would affect the magnetic field. He had to make every component by hand in setting up the experiment.

“Griffin's project and others is, they're using a lot of the tools to make the ramp, to make the channels, to attach the magnets,” said middle school science teacher Daniel Kollmer. STEAM isn't just about experiments, but learning how to make things, Kollmer added.

Lariviere said hand-skills are “good to know just because in the future, science learning, knowing about molecules and stuff, that's important. But I think learning hands-on can show you how to do stuff in your future life and can make you excited to learn more.”