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Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab

Moving from 100 birdhouses that look exactly the same, to students designing and digitally fabricating anything they want!

In 2014, Elizabeth Forward High School transformed a traditional wood shop with band saws, lathes, table saws and sanders into a digital fabrication playground. In the Industrial Age, students went into a wood shop to create birdhouses and clocks that looked exactly the same. In this new MIT-approved FABLab, students are designing and digitally fabricating anything they want!

Shortlisted
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Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2015

Established

-

Children

1

Countries
Updated
January 2019
The Elizabeth Forward High School's FABLab allows students to develop an idea to make something and then turn it into a reality. Whether it's an e-textile stuffed animal using a micro-controller connected to a bluetooth device or a solar panel for their lunch box, students are moving toward the Conceptual Age with their learning.

About the innovation

Why Do We Need to Develop Makers for Tomorrow?

Are you trying to bring creativity, collaboration, innovation and problem solving skills to your school? Do you want kids to utilize technology beyond playing games? Are you trying to get more girls involved in STEM? Are you trying to teach students how to become an entrepreneur?

In 2014, Elizabeth Forward High School transformed an Industrial Age wood shop into a Conceptual Age digital fabrication playground. While the new MIT-approved FABLab has traditional wood shop tools and CNC routers in the dirty lab, a new clean lab has laser cutters, vinyl cutters, 3D printers, an electronics station and collaborative spaces for students.

Elizabeth Forward FABLab teachers started to get trained on all the new equipment by local businesses, including sign companies and nearby fabrication companies. Initially, it was very difficult to find the right professional development for our teachers. In 2015, a group of local maker educators decided to create the Pittsburgh FAB Network. This network was designed to gather local maker educators together several times a year to share project ideas and best practices. It was so successful, the group decided to create the summer Pittsburgh FAB Institute. In it's fifth year, this 4-day training is designed to support elementary and secondary maker educators from beginners to experts.

Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab teachers started to move away from the Industrial Age wood shop projects like bird houses and clocks, and the instructors started to teach design thinking, prototyping and how to use the new digital fabrication software and hardware tools. Students started the design process, using their creativity and collaborating on project ideas. Students started to digitally fabricate! One student built a canoe with the help of a MIT professor and EF's FABLab teacher and tested it in the school pool. Other projects included furniture, digital wall displays, an electric powered car, parabolic lanterns, escape rooms, 3D-printed chocolate bars designed from scanned objects to digitally fabricated art. Check out Adam Savage's tour of Elizabeth Forward High School's FABLab!

Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab teachers realized there was a need to get more females into the FABLab and to increase overall accessibility to the FABLab. Therefore, the teachers removed the prerequisites for the maker class so ALL high school students could have the opportunity to enroll in the maker class. Elizabeth Forward High School administrators created an all girls maker class and after two years, there are now 50 girls taking advantage of this opportunity!

Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab teachers partnered with theReal World Scholarsfrom San Diego, California to bring entrepreneurship into the FABLab. The EdCorps platform offered a new way to bring entrepreneurialism into the FABLab. For the first time ever, Elizabeth Forward Students built a real student-run business to learn FABLab content, develop the entrepreneurial mindset, and build the skills they need to make their communities a better place. Elizabeth Forward High School now has a student-run business called the iSH Co. (which stands for "In Student Hands") and works with the school district, parents, booster programs and community businesses. The iSH Co. specializes in the customization of various products including: phone grips, magnets, banners, lanyards, and any type of sticker you can think of. All these items can be personalized by the students within the company!

Implementation steps

Visit Other FABLabs!

Don't try to design and build your FABLab by your self! Visit other maker spaces and FABLabs across your local area and/or visit spaces virtually across the world. Check out MIT's FAB Foundation to find a FABLab near you.

Creating New Space!

Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab teachers wanted to create a fun space to promote creativity, innovation and collaboration. The FABLab teachers didn't want the students to feel like they were in a 1957's high school room. We started to paint the walls, designed a fun floor plan and added different types of furniture to create a more modern learning space.

Project-Based Learning
As we visited other FABLabs and maker spaces, Elizabeth Forward High School's FABLab teachers started to define the skills students needed in this new digital fabrication playground. Teachers were trained on project-based learning to help them be more creative with project ideas and get to a deeper level of learning.
Software and Hardware Decisions

As you build your new FABLab, you will need to determine what age level you are targeting -- Elementary, Middle or High School. Once you determine the age group, you need to work with vendors and other FABLab experts to determine what software and hardware is appropriate for each age group. Purchasing hardware that only operates software that is not developmentally appropriate for the student can stall the development of your program.

Professional Development for FABLab Teachers

Elizabeth Forward FABLab teachers started to get trained on all the new equipment by local businesses, including sign companies and nearby fabrication companies. Initially, it was very difficult to find the right professional development for our teachers. We realized that we could not do this without support so we reached out to nearby K-12 schools, colleges, universities and museums to create a network of local makers.

What kind of materials will we need?
Elizabeth Forward High School's FABLab used the existing materials budget, which consisted of mostly traditional "wood products" and redistributed those funds to include plastic, acyclic, large pieces of plywood (cut into smaller pieces for the laser cutter), cardboard and foam board to build prototypes. As you start to define project ideas, you will need to be extremely flexible on the different materials required and should be creative on where to purchase the materials.
Maker Nights
After getting Elizabeth Forward High School's FABLab up and running, we started to bring our parents and community into the lab for "Maker Nights". As our guests entered the FABLab during maker nights, they went to different stations to get a hands-on experience. Elizabeth Forward students acted as teachers at each stations and actually trained the adults on how to use the digital fabrication software and hardware.
Entrepreneurship Skills

Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab teachers partnered with the Real World Scholars from San Diego, California to bring entrepreneurship into the FABLab. The EdCorps platform offered a new way to bring entrepreneurialism into the FABLab. For the first time ever, Elizabeth Forward Students built a real student-run business to learn FABLab content, develop the entrepreneurial mindset, and build the skills they needed to make their communities a better place. Elizabeth Forward High School now has a student-run business called the iSH Co. (which stands for "In Student Hands") and works with the school district, parents, booster programs and community businesses. The iSH Co. specializes in the customization of various products including: phone grips, magnets, banners, lanyards, and any type of sticker you can think of. All these items can be personalized by the students within the company!

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