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Digital Fabrication Ecosystem

The largest collection of school-based FabLabs in the world are transforming how students prepare for success in the modern workforce.

The digital fabrication ecosystem in Hamilton County Schools, anchored by 24 school-based Fab Labs, serves as an incredible conduit for teachers to empower students to cultivate agile problem solving skills through hands-on learning. The ecosystem provides more than 16,000 K-12 students daily access to digital fabrication labs in school.

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2014

Established

25K

Children

1

Countries
Target group
All
Updated
July 2020
Digital fabrication has transformed how we prepare students to meet the demands of the modern workforce by blending their development of essential skills and technical fluency through problem solving.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Traditionally, K-12 education has focused solely on student mastery of content. However, to thrive in the modern workforce, students need to be agile problem solvers who are skilled at productive collaboration, critical thinking, innovation, and communication. School-based FabLabs have transformed how our students prepare for college and career through hands-on learning in advanced maker-spaces.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

The digital fabrication ecosystem in Hamilton County, anchored by 30 school-based Fab Labs, serves as an incredible conduit for teachers to empower students to cultivate essential skills. These labs are advanced maker spaces that empower students to use computer controlled tools to create functional solutions to authentic problems in the students' unique context (like a microcomputer-controlled touchless sanitizer dispenser, or slippers with “headlights” that activate when you stand). However, they are much more than a room full of high-tech tools. The lab teachers facilitate a revolutionary schema for integrating authentic learning experiences by fully integrating a constructivist philosophy so that students master the technical fluency AND STEM Essential Skills necessary for success. Our embedded approach empowers students to develop a STEM identity in grades 4-8 that effectively reduces/eliminates the noted gender, racial, and SES barriers in STEM + CS fields.

How has it been spreading?

STEM School Chattanooga opened the first Fab Lab in the state, and it immediately changed how students engaged in learning. Building on the success, Volkswagen Group of America took interest in expanding access to the labs, so they partnered with the state, the school system, and the Public Education Foundation (PEF) to develop a network of school-based labs. The partnership resulted in the largest network FabLabs in the world. As word spread through social media and press coverage, more than 1,800 educators from 37 states and 3 countries have visited the labs, with at least 21 school-based labs scaling the model across the United states in urban and rural communities in Milwaukee and central Indiana. Additionally, the founders have presented the model in Portugal, Argentina, & Malaysia.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

The leaders of the digital fabrication ecosystem coauthored a free eBook, Let Me Try It, which is available at http://www.letmetryitbook.com. This is a great starting point on the philosophy and model used in these labs. For additional information, visit www.vwelabs.org or reach out directly to Michael Stone at mstone@pefchattanooga.org

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