Country Day MIT Fab Lab

A little bit about Fab Labs‌

Fab Lab is short for Fabrication Laboratories which teach basic math and science by using the latest technologies in a “project based” undertaking for the students. The way of teaching is seen as part of the growing “Maker Movement,’’ in which an entrepreneur can use technology to move directly from idea through development and a working prototype using the latest laser and 3-D fabrication techniques.

In some ways this is a return to the old “wood shop” or “auto shop” techniques used in schools in previous generations and its more organic connection to jobs, professions and technologies has been getting attention at the highest levels.

The MIT Center for Bits and Atoms is driving a world-wide Fablab effort..

Currently there are estimated to be more than 100 established around the world, including one that was being installed in an Inuit Village in Alaska by our partners at MIT just last week.

The tools allow students to work on a variety of packaged projects designed to incorporate basic math and science understanding as part of the effort.

Cutting, tooling and fabrication technologies are involved.

They are being used around the world in different ways depending on the nature and needs of the countries and educational institutions. The uses range from practical creation of useful technologies to new artistic expressions.

Katie Rast has been involved in using these technologies and teaching techniques in a variety of venues around San Diego, including Country Day’s start-up STE(+a)M program we have been developing with UCSD.

Introducing the Mobile Fab Lab

MIT has created several mobile Fab Labs. They have committed to have Katie host one of the labs in San Diego beginning Sept. 1 and locating the lab on the campus of La Jolla Country Day School.

An Invention Studio on Wheels

The mobile lab brings all the tools of an established lab into one place.

What happens in aFab Lab?

Grassroots Innovation: Everyone is a Designer

Design:

Production:

Designer = End User

Engaging Learning for Next Generation Makers

In preliminary discussions of the potential of hosting this mobile lab, science, math and arts teachers and administrators in the Upper School have expressed significant interest in using these tools to enrich existing science, math and arts courses. In addition, Middle School administrators have expressed a desire to have Rast offer specific electives throughout the year to seventh and eighth graders.

There is clearly potential for other Lower, Middle and Upper school teachers to work with Rast to develop projects or workshop exercises to enrich other efforts throughout the school as time and opportunity allow.

Workshops and Access for Innovation and Project-Based Learning

Metal and wood fabrication based on computer generated design is also a common use for these tools.

Country Day’s Robotics team believes it can use these tools to enrich its competitive efforts as well.

Stepping toward a distributed manufacturing future

In the larger sense, early advocates of this “Maker Movement” see the development of these design-toproduction techniques as a step toward a more efficient, more “green” manufacturing model for the world’s industrial future.

This shows the current complexity of the manufacturing cycle today, while a “Maker Movement� model would allow the creation of needed products by the end users in the end users market.

A map of the highest toxicities found in the world’s oceans track directly along the major shipping routes. www.nceas.ucsb.edu/globalmarine/impacts

Truck volumes in the U.S. point out the highly decentralized nature of our manufacturing processes.

The Maker Movement foresees a future in which the skills, technologies and more of the production capabilities are located within the market of the consumer of those products.

Building upon the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math + Arts) Enrichment Programs at LJCD Country Day’s early efforts with UCSD and its STE(+a)M concept have been deeply embedded in this Maker Movement world.

The following slides are all from last summer’s STE(+a)M camp at Country Day. It’s happening here.