Innovation Hub opens at Bentonville High School

NWA Democrat-Gazette/CHARLIE KAIJO Sophomore Johnathan Hartman, 16, levels the platform of a 3D printer Jan. 18 at Bentonville High School. The school recently opened Innovation Hub, where kids can tinker, create and design.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/CHARLIE KAIJO Sophomore Johnathan Hartman, 16, levels the platform of a 3D printer Jan. 18 at Bentonville High School. The school recently opened Innovation Hub, where kids can tinker, create and design.

BENTONVILLE -- Innovation has found a place at Bentonville High School.

The Innovation Hub, which opened this month in the school's south building, offers students a place to build, create and tinker -- and perhaps learn something in the process.

The Bentonville Schools Foundation gave the school $10,000 to set up the hub, one of numerous grants the foundation gave schools across the district last year to support science, technology, engineering, the arts and math, commonly referred to by the acronym STEAM.

Students will find all kinds of equipment inside the hub, including 3D printers, a sewing machine and a scroll saw. There's also an abundance of material such as cardboard, lumber and rolls of fabric.

Students may come in to take care of a project for class. Teachers also may bring classes in for the occasional project, although there's only enough space for about 15 students at a time.

"Right now it's still a baby, and a lot of our teachers don't know about what all they can do in there," said Principal Jack Loyd. "They know that it's there, but to truly know what they can go in and do with the space, that's going to be a learning process."

Kelly Parker, an engineering teacher, is the hub's coordinator. She toured other school makerspaces in Bentonville and Farmington and talked with those in charge of those spaces. Parker said she also talked with her colleagues about how they might use the hub.

The Innovation Hub is an example of what's more broadly referred to as a makerspace, which is set up to encourage design and experimentation using a wide range of tools and material.

Greg Puckett, assistant principal, praised Parker for the effort she has put into getting the Innovation Hub going.

"These are the types of things that make school really fun and engaging, but without someone who's willing to take it on and champion it as much as possible, they often aren't as successful as they can be. She champions this wholeheartedly," Puckett said.

The hub is open before school and during flex period. The plan for next school year is to keep it open all day with students running the place, Parker said. Students will be trained before they're allowed to use the heavier machinery.

Johnathan Hartman, a 16-year-old sophomore, has helped Parker set up the hub's three, 3D printers.

"I think this space is a very good opportunity for kids to come in and work on projects and see what inspires them," Hartman said.

It's also beneficial because it takes sometimes noisy, sometimes messy activities out of the classroom so teachers don't have to work around the distractions those activities create, he said.

Lockers outside the hub are stuffed with material students may use for their projects. Parker said she'd appreciate donations of more hardware such as screws and nails, but more than anything, she'd like community members to share their techniques.

"To get people and build those relationships between students and people who have this experience and knowledge, we can't create that in the classroom," she said. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact the school.

West High School also received a $10,000 grant from the foundation last year, most of which went toward a "STEAM cart," a kind of makerspace on wheels.

Makerspaces are common at the elementary through junior high schools in the Springdale School District, said Rick Schaeffer, director of communications. They've not made it into any of the district's three high schools yet, he said. One is planned to be included in the next phase of the School of Innovation's building, set to open in 2020.

Fayetteville High School does not have a dedicated makerspace. The school has a 3D printer, a laser cutter, woodworking tools and other items commonly found in spaces used by pre-engineering classes, according to Lisa Hotsenpiller, director of career and technical education.

Rogers High School and Heritage High School both have makerspaces in their libraries. Both are set up primarily as places students can play games, do a puzzle or build something with Legos. There's a table set up for duct tape projects and another where kids may examine the innards of a computer.

Mostly it's meant to be a place for kids to decompress, said Carol Villines and Cassandra Greene, the librarians at Rogers High School.

About two dozen students were hanging out at Rogers High School's makerspace during lunchtime Thursday. One group was playing a basketball video game on an Xbox. Others were playing checkers and chess. One boy was doodling on a table that had a whiteboard as its surface.

School libraries have been developing different types of spaces, Greene said. Rogers High School's makerspace is in its third year.

"Library has changed. It's not just a quiet space anymore, " Greene said. "So as the makerspace movement grew, more and more libraries started developing what they eventually ended up calling makerspaces. And they're all different. We just wanted a place kids could come, relax, and realize the library is not just a quiet space."

NW News on 01/27/2019

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