Framework:

​The focus of our design project is to create a multi-purpose Learning Lab at the secondary school level, which promotes and enhances student engagement through a variety of methods. The Learning Lab will allow students to work impactful and individualized investigations while at the same time receiving personal feedback both from teachers, peers, and the outside community. The intention of the multi-purpose aspect of the Learning Lab is to encourage professional development among staff, as well as a place for students from grade 8 to 12 to work on more meaningful and individualized investigations and inquiries. The Learning Lab blends Maker Spaces with Learning Commons, providing students and teachers a place that supports digital learning. The Learning Lab will include a 3D printer, iPads, and laptops to support educational activities.

Building upon the theoretical insights of Lev Vygotsky, our Learning Lab focuses on the importance of the Social Development Theory. Vygotksy’s theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of “making meaning” (Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotksy’s ideas about learning and learning environments shape how the Learning Lab is designed and implemented in the school, focusing on the needs and academic goals of the students. The intention of our Learning Lab, built upon Seymour Papert’s constructionism theory, creates a “situated practice, to immersion into an authentic community; overt instruction, collaboration with the support of more advanced peers; critical framing; examining learning objectively to gain insight to the larger picture; and transformed practice, applying new knowledge to situated practice” (New London Group, 1996) The Learning Lab encourages learning through building things that are tangible and can be shared within a community of practice.

Purpose of the Learning Lab

The learning lab is a multipurpose, multimedia room complete with digital manufacturing equipment as well as tools and materials for “Making”. The focus is to promote engagement among secondary school students through individualized investigations and group inquiry.

The idea of integrating ADST with science and math has been piloted before with great success. STEM or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for short introduces students to science and math through practical project based work. Not only does it strengthen creativity and encourage children but takes a science or math concept from knowing to doing and understanding. STEM also takes students through the scientific method, the design thinking process as well as the problem solving process of answering a mathematical problem.