STEAM at FCS

Making at FCS is guided by three principles: Be Safe. Be Original. Be Respectful. These directives guide our thoughts and actions. From there, we are bound only by imagination and determination. Students and teachers work side by side to explore and discover, each taking turns as experts and learners as the situation requires. To help our journey, the makerspaces are filled with materials, tools—both hi-tech and low-tech, analog and digital—and inspiration, which drive creativity and empower learning.

Makerspaces are places for creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. Filled with tools, materials, and inspiration, makerspaces empower students to be active and engaged learners, giving them agency to explore their unique talents and interests.

On the City Avenue campus, Middle and Upper School Makers can be found in our brand new Audrie Gardham Ulmer '37 Center for Innovation & Design (the CID) in the repurposed and redesigned former Rex Gym.

At the Lower School, our students can utilize the innovative Ulmer Family Light Lab, which contains four distinct studios for our youngest makers: Natural Sciences, Media/Computing, Fabrication, and Design.  

In the Ulmer Family Light Lab and the Audrie Gardham Ulmer '37 Center for Innovation & Design, our students create and learn by doing and as we intentionally blur the lines between academic disciplines. No problem is too big or complex to explore, and we design systems and objects to solve problems in our School, in our communities, and around the world.

The Audrie Gardham Ulmer '37 Center for Innovation & Design
On our City Avenue campus, students are constantly moving through the Audrie Gardham Ulmer '37 Center for Innovation & Design. The CID includes state-of-the-art equipment such as a ShopBot CNC router, a Glowforge laser cutter, and traditional hand tools in the woodworking department; a WAZER waterjet cutter, sewing and embroidery machines, and a soldering station for metalworking and electronics; and 3D filament and resin printers, a digital media studio with a greenscreen, and virtual-reality headsets under the technology division. All of these tools can be used for art, science and humanities classes or new courses such as design thinking and 3D fabrication. Students are also encouraged to stop by and develop their own projects during free periods or after school. One of the early projects this fall involved two students building a balsa-wood model airplane from scratch and attaching a motor to it.

Our Robotics Team
Utilizing the new equipment in the CID, Friends’ Central founded a FIRST® Robotics Competition team for the 2022-23 season. FIRST, an acronym standing for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a premier, global robotics organization that aims to promote collaboration, real-world problem solving skills, and science education through robotics competitions. The students on the team spend several hours per week after school from January through March in the Center for Innovation and Design learning how to design, fabricate and program a four foot tall, one-hundred pound robot from scratch. The build season culminates in two regional competitions where the robot plays against other schools in a team-based sports like game. Students are joined by several professional engineers from companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Oracle who volunteer their time to teach students engineering and design skills. 

The Ulmer Family Light Lab
On our Lower School campus, students of all ages visit the Ulmer Family Light Lab to deepen the learning taking place in their classrooms and special subject areas.  In collaboration with the Light Lab Director, classroom teachers develop hands-on interdisciplinary projects that encourage students to fabricate all sorts of wondrous creations. Projects involve high levels of choice so that students produce work that is reflective of their individuality while also providing them the opportunity to present their products to the community for feedback and learning.  The Light Lab studios are fully equipped with tools intended to inspire and support every student in the Lower School.  From cardboard and duct tape to high-tech fabrication machines like laser cutters and 3D printers, LS makers use these exploratory spaces to craft their own experiences.

While Lower School Maker Ed projects remain dynamic for the shifting needs and interests of our students, the curriculum also includes specific experiences and targeted lessons to empower our young makers as they grow into the engineers and designers of the future.  Early childhood students nurture edible plants from seed, explore kitchen cutting tools, and wield hammers and screwdrivers to learn construction techniques.  Intermediate grades build programmable insect LEGO robots, engineer cardboard machines, and experiment with conductive and insulating materials by crafting different types of circuits. Older grades complete skill-based activities to expose students to hand and machine sewing, 3D design and printing, digital fabrication, circuitry, physical computing, and the design thinking process.  As a celebratory culmination of their time in the Light Lab, fifth graders have full creative license to build and program functional robots with custom electronics and sensors to share at the annual Robot Fair. 

The Makerspace began as the home to an "un-course" that met during a regular class block. There were no tests or grades, only students and teachers engaging collaboratively in solving problems using engineering, computing, design, and any and all other available tools or ways of thinking and seeing.

After two years without a permanent home, the Makerspace at City Avenue moved into two former computer labs. The old computers and desks were moved out, and the carpet was removed to make way for new tools and materials. In the fall of 2022, Maker education on the City Avenue campus moved into the Audrie Gardham Ulmer '37 Center for Innovation & Design (the CID) in what was formerly the Rex Gymnasium. With approximately 6,800 square feet of space, the newly designed CID includes studios for design and prototyping, fabrication, technology and robotics, and the storage and finishing of student projects. 

Building upon a rich history of creative instruction and the desire to create more community spaces, plans emerged to construct a one-of-a-kind building on the Lower School campus. Faculty and staff collaborated to envision four maker-themed studios which would be stocked with both high and low tech materials as well as flexible furniture for our youngest innovators. In the fall of 2016, the Ulmer Family Light Lab opened its doors and has been bustling with industrious teachers and students ever since.  The Fabrication, Natural Sciences, Media and Computing, and Design studios provide opportunities for Maker Ed and STEAM education for nursery to fifth grade classes.