The Virginia Tech School of Education's new STEM Education Collaboratory celebrated its official opening last Saturday as part of a campus-wide Open House. People of all ages came out to see the space, hear some speeches and play with the myriad robots, tools, equipment and computers on display. We were super-excited to participate in the festivities, and for the chance to contribute to an innovative space on the vanguard of educational theory. For the first time under one roof, students and teachers have access to an adaptable space primed for a variety of teaching scenarios - a lab that brings together science, technology and fabrication equipment in support of an integrated approach to learning. You can design something on the touch-screen table and then step through the door and cut it out on the table saw.
Charles Steger (President of Virginia Tech), The Honorable Laura Fornash (Virginia Secretary of Education) and others had many lovely things to say about the STEM program and offered high marks for the quality of the Collaboratory environment. High fives all around!
The room, 112 Seitz, is located in an 80-year old building behind the agriculture quad and has been many things over the years, including an agricultural lab and a wood shop. In some ways, its new role is the logical extension of these past identities as a synthesis of science, technology, engineering and math. The School of Education describes it this way:
The STEM Education Collaboratory provides the space and equipment to conduct interdisciplinary outreach, professional development, research and instruction in integrating science education, technology education, K-12 engineering education, and mathematics education. This $1.2 million renovated facility includes collaborative space, digital media areas, science and technology laboratories, and a prototyping laboratory. The STEM Education Collaboratory also supports remote collaboration through...web conferencing technologies.
The Integrative STEM Education graduate program at VT is the first of its kind in the country. Many of the faculty and staff participated in the design process and we want to thank them for their enthusiastic efforts - most especially Dr. Susan Magliaro, Director of the School of Education, for her patience and vision. Thanks, Sue!
Credit also goes to the VT project manager, Russell Boyd, and the contractor, South End Construction in Roanoke. More info is available here.
Photos from the Inquiry by Engineering Design Workshop courtesy of Mr. Larry Cox and the School of Education
