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.