Career and Technology Education students at Chippewa Falls Senior High School in Wisconsin will be able to use a laser engraver, a vinyl cutter, a 3D printer, and other equipment thanks to a $25,000 grant that involved a highly intensive application process and a presentation for the Nordson Corporation, The Chippewa Herald reports.
a 3D printer
Angie Stokes, Career and Technical Educational Coordinator, works with teachers from Art and other departments on interdisciplinary projects that closely resemble what will be available for students who decide to pursue STEM disciplines or careers after high school. Those projects are part of a “Fab Lab” the grant will help create at the school.
Senior Allison Prill, who hopes to double major in biology and applied engineering or math, said the Fab Lab grant allows her “to be around equipment that I wouldn’t normally be able to. It will be helpful to get into college and be not completely new to the equipment I will be using.”
MIT Fab Labs & the worlds they open up
Fabrication Labs, or Fab Labs, were developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about a decade ago. They provide widespread access to modern means for the purposes of invention, the development of new ideas and products, and collaboration with other Fab Labs around the globe, connected by a communications network.
The idea started as an outreach project from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. CBA assembled millions of dollars in machines for research in digital fabrication, ultimately aiming at developing programmable molecular assemblers that will be able to make almost anything. Fab Labs each contain roughly $50,000 in equipment and materials that can be used today to do what will be possible with tomorrow’s personal fabricators.
Since that first Fab Lab, the concept has spread from inner-city Boston to rural India, from South Africa to the North of Norway. Activities in Fab Labs include peer-to-peer, project-based technical training, as well as local problem-solving and small-scale high-tech business incubation.
Projects developed and produced in Fab Labs include solar and wind-powered turbines, thin-client computers, and wireless data networks, analytical instrumentation for agriculture and healthcare, custom housing, and rapid-prototyping of rapid-prototyping machines.
Fab labs share core capabilities, so that people and projects can be shared across them. This currently includes:
- Computer-controlled lasercutter, for press-fit assembly of 3D structures from 2D parts
- Large (4’×8′) numerically-controlled milling machine, for making house-sized parts
- Sign-cutter, to produce printing masks, flexible circuits, & antennas
- Precision (micron-resolution) milling machine for 3D molds & surface-mount circuit boards
- Programming tools for low-cost high-speed embedded processors
Nordson & Chippewa Falls Senior High School
The Nordson Corporation, which delivered the huge grant after consultation with its board of directors, delivers precision technology solutions. So developing technology and other STEM-related strengths in local students is right up their alley.
The corporation engineers, manufactures, and markets differentiated products used for dispensing adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials and other materials; for fluid management; and for UV curing and plasma surface treatment. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, the company has operations and support offices in more than 30 countries.
The Art Department at Chippewa Falls earlier this year converted a common area in the school to an atrium with red bean bag chairs and plants that lighten up the atmosphere. Art teacher Jennifer Handrick came up with the idea of an atrium area based on businesses that “understand the importance of ergonomics and aesthetics for fostering creativity and success in their employees,” she said. “We should have the same thing for our students.”
One student reporter on the school’s video newscast, The Happs, said the atrium “is a fantastic way to get inspiration, to get homework done, or just chill with friends.”
Thus it would seem students have a new atrium to inspire them or let them chill for a while as ideas percolate in their heads, and they have the equipment and technology needed to develop those ideas and turn them into useful products. Go Cardinals!
