November 2023 Newsletter

Mobile Makerspace participant learning about the Moon's path around Earth.

View the Spanish translation of our newsletter here.

Hello and happy fall-

With the school year well underway, we at the Hub are enjoying getting back into the field and classrooms and supporting the great work you all are doing with your students, colleagues, and teams. Since the academic year began, we’ve been able to co-host an annular eclipse viewing party with Harrisburg Public Library, hold a queer makers’ night in the MILL, work with 2nd and 3rd graders at Sweet Home’s Hawthorne Elementary, teach about magnetic fields at Philomath Public Library, prototype 3D skeletal models for LBCC’s radiology technology students, connect with the outreach team at Albany’s Welcome Center, and much more. What a great start to the year! 

I am also delighted to announce the release of our most recent About Us Video. Please take a look and learn more about who we are and what we're all about. If you missed our 2022-2023 Annual Report, this video is a terrific companion piece to that report as a visual journey through the Hub’s work of the past year and the incredible team and partners behind it all. 

Thank you for tuning in and passing these resources on to those in your schools, communities, and networks!

Best,

sw

Students in a special education classroom working together to design and build a marble maze using LEGO.

Last month, we wrote about how STEAM/CTE activities empower special education students to explore their potential, embrace their unique strengths, and become active and engaged learners.

This fall, Program Coordinator, Chris Singer, launched STEAM For the Win (FTW).

This pilot program is bringing STEAM into the Philomath School District's Special Education, Life Skills, and Youth Transition Program. We’re spending the first couple of months introducing different types of STEAM activities to students at Philomath High School and Kings Valley Charter School. 

Our goal with these introductory activities is to get to know the students and help them

find where their strengths lie. To achieve this, we have designed activities to give students a broad range of STEAM experiences. In our first session, students built their own LEGO Marble Tilt Mazes, an activity designed for students to develop problem-solving skills, practice fine motor skills, and develop critical thinking to design and build a LEGO marble tilt maze. 

For our second session, we stuck with the idea of building a marble track but instead of LEGO, we had students design and build marble runs with building materials like particle board, nails, and rubber bands. Similar to the LEGO version of this activity, students applied engineering and design concepts to create a functional marble track while using hammers and learning how to practice safe and responsible tool usage.

Besides our classroom activities, we are also helping teachers set up STEAM/CTE work stations in their classrooms. So far, we’ve set up a tinkering station in each of the classrooms and provided students with the tools to take apart old computer towers. Tinkering and take-apart activities often involve real-world objects and devices, providing students with a practical understanding of the technology they encounter in their daily lives. For some students, these activities can serve as a stepping stone to future vocational or career opportunities in fields related to engineering, electronics, mechanics, or other technical areas.

“Often our students with learning disabilities automatically disqualify themselves from careers in fields that include titles such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. But Chris is bringing in fun activities that are suddenly making these students say, ‘Wait...this is Engineering? I could do this!’ It is fun and inspiring to watch our students rethink what they see themselves as capable of doing."

-Shelly Brown, Philomath High School

All of these activities this fall are setting the stage for the second phase of our pilot project that will launch (literally in this case) after the new year. Through a partnership with FTW Robotics, we are going to teach students how to build, fly, and code drones. We will spend the remainder of the school year working on this project that will culminate in a showcase competition in the spring between Philomath High School and Kings Valley Charter School students.

You can’t be what you can’t see.

The Hub is proud to partner with our rural community partner, Harrisburg. This October, Harrisburg, located on the southern edge of Linn and Benton counties, was in a swath that allowed viewers to experience the totality of the annular eclipse. 

We are grateful the Harrisburg Library volunteered to collaborate with the Mobile Makerspace and the MILL to bring this eclipse viewing event to life for students in our region.

Harrisburg School District and Harrisburg City Library have been partnering with the Hub to bring more STEAM opportunities through enriching and playful activities designed to keep students engaged and having fun while learning about complex topics that could lead to future career interests. 

The morning of the event was foggy and ultimately the eclipse could not be seen due to the weather, though its effects were noticeable as the sky grew dark and streetlights turned on. Nevertheless, many dedicated participants attended the event to learn, explore, create, and enjoy snacks making this group effort a success. 

Thank you, Harrisburg, for your continued support of our in and out-of-school programs!