Rockland School Opens STEAM Lab, Invites Local Educators to Check it Out

Rockland Country Day School has a new lab designed for designers and problem-solving.

The Ellen Nodelman CreativityCenter/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Lab was dedicated held Dec. 2.

Classes at RCDS now have the tools to design, prototype, build, and innovate!

Interdisciplinary and hands-on approaches to problem-solving are the hallmarks of design thinking, and are re-shaping curricula around the country.

Following the philosophy of Makerspace® the school’s goal is “…to re-energize education with the creativity, innovation, curiosity, motivation, technical know-how, and playfulness” that characterize our community across ages, divisions, and disciplines.

The "Maker" movement "generally refers to using a wide variety of hands-on activities (such as building, computer programming, and sewing) to support academic learning and the development of a mindset that values playfulness and experimentation, growth and iteration, and collaboration and community," according to Education Week.

RCDS has created a space in which this way of thinking and learning is possible and encouraged.

Students in grades 3 through 12 take computer science classes and use the STEAM lab to design, code, and fabricate. The curriculum includes Robotics, Computer Programming, Functional Design, Structural Design and Modeling, and Advanced Programming.

RCDS students benefit from the problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, synthesis of learning, engineering skills, and real world experience of “doing” that the Creativity Center offers.

School officials extend an invitation to local elementary and middle schools, which do not yet have STEAM Labs, to visit the campus for a demonstration and engineering workshop. Interested educators should email jfeuerstein@rocklandcds.org.