Fab Lab To Offer Dynamic Maker Opportunities to All Skill Levels
Imagine a room full of digital fabrication and rapid prototyping machines, like 3D printers and laser cutters, where schoolchildren and adults of all skill levels can learn how to design items using open-source software and then turn their virtual creations into real, tangible objects. Now imagine a similarly equipped mobile unit that travels to schools and community settings throughout the region.
Now imagine your students there.
This is Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center, presented by Chevron as part of the Appalachia Partnership Initiative.
This Fab Lab is made possible by a grant Chevron made to the Fab Foundation, an educational outreach component of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT). The Fab Foundation is an extension of MIT’s research into digital fabrication and computation.
Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center is located in the Highmark SportsWorks® building. Equipment in this location and in a mobile Fab Lab unit includes: 3D printers; laser cutters; ShopBot CNC milling machines; arduinos; electronics workbench equipment, including robotics; two mini-mill/3-D scanners; and CNC sewing/embroidery machines.
Special field trips and after-school opportunities are being planned for school-age children, as is programming for the general public. The mobile Fab Lab will begin traveling to schools this fall. The Fab Lab also offers professional development opportunities for educational professionals.
Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center joins a network of 500+ Fab Labs in more than 70 countries worldwide. Uniquely among Fab Labs, it will generate its energy from solar panels, thanks to the support of Pittsburgh Green Innovators.
“The Fab Lab will be a workshop brimming with opportunities for learning and innovation. We will be able to introduce young people to the digital equipment that so many STEM jobs rely on,” said Jason Brown, director of Science and Education at the Science Center. “The Fab Lab adds a whole new dimension to our partnership with formal education, particularly for schools that don’t have these digital devices on their premises.”
“It’s great to be able to offer to people of all ages, throughout our region, access to high-tech resources that allow anyone to be an inventor or entrepreneur,” said Liz Whitewolf, Fab Lab Technical and Education Manager.
Network Connections, October 22, 2015
Fab Lab To Offer Dynamic Maker Opportunities to All Skill Levels
Imagine a room full of digital fabrication and rapid prototyping machines, like 3D printers and laser cutters, where schoolchildren and adults of all skill levels can learn how to design items using open-source software and then turn their virtual creations into real, tangible objects. Now imagine a similarly equipped mobile unit that travels to schools and community settings throughout the region.
Now imagine your students there.
This is Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center, presented by Chevron as part of the Appalachia Partnership Initiative.
This Fab Lab is made possible by a grant Chevron made to the Fab Foundation, an educational outreach component of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT). The Fab Foundation is an extension of MIT’s research into digital fabrication and computation.
Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center is located in the Highmark SportsWorks® building. Equipment in this location and in a mobile Fab Lab unit includes: 3D printers; laser cutters; ShopBot CNC milling machines; arduinos; electronics workbench equipment, including robotics; two mini-mill/3-D scanners; and CNC sewing/embroidery machines.
Special field trips and after-school opportunities are being planned for school-age children, as is programming for the general public. The mobile Fab Lab will begin traveling to schools this fall. The Fab Lab also offers professional development opportunities for educational professionals.
Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center joins a network of 500+ Fab Labs in more than 70 countries worldwide. Uniquely among Fab Labs, it will generate its energy from solar panels, thanks to the support of Pittsburgh Green Innovators.
“The Fab Lab will be a workshop brimming with opportunities for learning and innovation. We will be able to introduce young people to the digital equipment that so many STEM jobs rely on,” said Jason Brown, director of Science and Education at the Science Center. “The Fab Lab adds a whole new dimension to our partnership with formal education, particularly for schools that don’t have these digital devices on their premises.”
“It’s great to be able to offer to people of all ages, throughout our region, access to high-tech resources that allow anyone to be an inventor or entrepreneur,” said Liz Whitewolf, Fab Lab Technical and Education Manager.