Hawaii school uses mobile classroom to make STEM learning more accessible

Students talk to the media inside the Innovation Station, a mobile STEM lab.Approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults see K-12 STEM education in America as average or below-average as compared to the rest of the world, according to data collected by the PEW Research Center. Innovative school districts are finding ways to continually enhance and improve STEM learning and change this common perception.

Oahu's Innovation Station

Kalani High School in Oahu, Hawaii, is providing a solution for making technology more accessible to students in all grade levels across the island: a portable classroom dubbed the Innovation Station. The Innovation Station is transported to other schools, where it remains for several weeks, offering students and teachers the opportunity to use technology to which they do not usually have access.

Bryan Silver is an engineering teacher at Kalani High School and has been managing the school’s robotics teams for over 20 years. He is one of the driving forces behind the Innovation Station.

On the outside, the Innovation Station is a 40-foot-long, red shipping container. On the inside, however, it has been retrofitted with a battery with a capacity of 25 kilowatts, and it includes the latest technology, including fifteen 3D printers and three 55-watt laser engravers.

“I was blessed to be able to find many grants and partnerships to grow the brand-new engineering program on Kalani High’s campus, but we realized that not everyone had access to all of this new technology,” Silver said. “So, we set out to find a way to get cutting edge technology into the hands of more teachers and students.”

Enlisting student help

Examples of student work created in the Innovation Station.Silver enlisted the help of his robotics students to create the station. “The students of my robotics program are involved at every step of the process, designing layout, functionality, and building all the storage units. Whatever the need. I give the students ownership and the responsibility to create and teach. Some of our ideas are not as great as others, and that is how we learn and grow from each experience.”

One idea that worked was making the Innovation Station mobile. “We thought it was important that it be a mobile tech center that could go to where the students are, instead of a building for people to find themselves.”

According to Silver, he and the students “felt this was the best way to democratize technology and get it out to more students.”

The station also comes with 55 STEM lessons for grades three to five. “The purpose of the lab is not to replace anything a teacher is doing in their classroom but to enhance the learning that is already happening. That is why it is critical that the lab stay on a campus for many weeks to allow the time to learn, play and dream of things to make.”

Once the Innovation Station is established on campus, the robotics students who designed and built the station help train teachers. Students also help service the machines once a month.

Community response

After its first year in use, Silver says the Innovation Station has many fans in the community. Schools that have hosted the lab are seeking funds to build maker stations and buy technologies that teachers and students tried out in the lab. Silver hopes that similar stations can be built and deployed in other communities.

“In our small area of the island, the Innovation Station has impacted a thousand kids in its first year,” Silver said. “How many will it touch in five?"

For more information, watch the video below.