As part of a larger bond program, Comstock Public Schools will begin construction of a new K-8 STEM Academy this summer to replace a 75-year-old facility with a purpose-built STEM school. The new school will feature intentional design that celebrates the future of STEM and ensures that the programming is thoughtful, inclusive, and relevant to today’s technology and resources. The project team held a design workshop with multiple stakeholder and community groups to develop a functional and flexible design that evolves and adapts to the changing needs of students.

Current STEM Academy students participate in a variety of hands-on, enriching science projects. For example, a flagship program for the third-grade class is the Maple Tree Tapping Unit, which teaches students the entire process of creating maple syrup – from tapping the trees and boiling the sap, to enjoying the final product. The new academy will even feature an on-site sugar maple grove for this specific program, truly integrating the program’s curriculum into the school design. Extended learning areas throughout the school and outdoor areas will put learning on display and encapsulate the innovation happening within the academy.

The new STEM Academy is set to become the area’s go-to facility for STEM education. The academy offers 8th grade students the opportunity to earn high school credit, accelerating their future ability enroll in dual enrollment and earn free college credit courses. Offering STEM-specific education in a district with a historically underserved student population has increased enrollment and retention for the district. Comstock’s STEM Academy is even the highest performing school in Kalamazoo County.

Grandville Public School’s new middle school features more than 200,000 square feet of teaching and learning space that is flexible and student focused, giving students a variety of specialized spaces for a well-rounded educational experience. Collaborative spaces throughout the school and ample transparency into learning spaces supports curiosity and connects students across programs, like STEM. The middle school’s dedicated STEM education for the 7^th grade students courses focus on hands-on activities surrounding planes, cars, 3-D printing, and robots; while the 8^th grade level focuses on project-based Applied Construction and the Science of Speed.

The design for the middle school also included a significant upgrade in facilities for the district’s signature extracurricular robotics program, the Grandville Robodawgs. The new specialized robotics arena can host a variety of competitions and includes an adjacent gymnasium and woodshop area. The venue can be used for FIRST Robotics Competitions (FRC), VEX Robotics, Lego League and even aerial drones with multiple competition fields and pits for up to 120 teams. Robotics exemplify STEM principles and teach students programming, safety, and engineering skills to get them college or career ready. STEM concepts also allow students to learn lifelong skills in teamwork, leadership, and communications. These programs span multiple grade levels and even give elementary-aged students, and students from neighboring districts, exposure to robotics.

“The whole school is connected to academics – from robotics, STEM, traditional classrooms – we want to connect the concepts and ideas to real world application,” says Grandville Superintendent Roger Bearup.

Advancing Manufacturing Education in Indiana

Nearly 1 in 3 jobs in the South Bend–Elkhart region is represented by the manufacturing sector. With nearly 700 manufacturing companies in Elkhart County alone, Ivy Tech Community College’s South Bend–Elkhart campus is positioned to train the next generation workforce in manufacturing, industry, and automation. Increasing enrollment in the Advanced Manufacturing Degree (ADMF) program and demand for highly skilled employees with internationally recognized credentials in advanced automation, robotics, and manufacturing have propelled the urgent need for a facility like the new Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Automation.

This state-of-the-art training facility bridges the gap between digital transformation and operational adoption in industry. The space allows Ivy Tech the flexibility over the next 10-15 years to become more future-focused, especially as Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things expands. In response to the needs of the future workforce, Ivy Tech is developing a new IIoT Advanced Manufacturing degree to complement the resources afforded by the Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Automation and professional credentials from the Smart Automation Credentialing Alliance. Additionally, Lippert Components, Inc. (LCI), the county’s largest manufacturer, is investing over $60 million in two highly automated facilities in the region, and LCI is partnering with Ivy Tech to create the curriculum and train their team members.

Much more than simply a place to house equipment, our team envisioned this space as a “lab” that provides a place for students to learn, grow, and be challenged as they develop the skills needed by future employers, securing careers that contribute to the vitality of the region’s economy and community. The Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Automation is a bridge between Ivy Tech and surrounding industry, increasing visibility of the campus as well as making visible to students their future careers.

“With the completion of the Center…we’re pursuing our dream of transforming our region from being one of the largest manufacturing hubs in the state into being the largest manufacturing hub in the country,” said David K. Balkin, Former Chancellor, Ivy Tech Community College South Bend – Elkhart

A Consolidated Campus for Collaboration

With community partners, GMB transformed a former department store into a 21^st century learning space and making a college education more accessible to students in the Lakeshore community of Holland. The new Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) Lakeshore Campus, consolidated the programs from four separate leased buildings, creating synergy and collaboration across programs that are physically co-located.

Buying the former retail building gives the college future flexibility to grow in the much larger footprint – a consolidated, 52,000-square-foot campus facility – and provides opportunities for operational efficiencies and partnerships with Grand Valley State University’s Meijer campus. A consolidated campus establishes a strong community presence, truly embedding the college – and education – in a community.

The 52,000 square foot renovated GRCC Lakeshore building opened last fall and includes classrooms and labs for workforce development and arts and sciences, as well as multiple student services such as testing, counseling, placement, and a satellite library. The space plan is organized around the machine tool area to the north with perimeter classrooms ringing the exterior. Student support spaces and science labs act as islands within the floor plan, so that views from the main entrance focus on the machine tool lab. Enlarged corridors act as extensions of the classroom, allowing small groups to work or study before and after class while also opening into some of the classroom spaces for a larger lecture.

“This allows us to better serve our students, industry partners and gives people in the community a visible, centrally located place to connect with our college in a thriving area,” said GRCC Former President Bill Pink.

Interactive Automotive Technology Classrooms

The automotive program at Ivy Tech Community College’s Indianapolis campus, with the support of industry partners, is designed to be interactive and relevant to current and future industry demands. The program incorporates industry supported and recognized certifications as well as highly qualified instructors who are creating interactive student learning experiences. Due to an increase in available jobs and demand for graduates of Ivy Tech’s Automotive Technology program, the college built a new Automotive Technology Training Center.

This new facility reinforces the state-of-the-art instruction from masters of the industry in a safe and secure environment. The design helps to foster a collaborative environment that fuels relationships between students, faculty, and partners, balanced with places for students and staff to refresh and focus to enhance students’ retention of applicable and working knowledge.

The center features nine labs, seven classrooms, and state-of-the-art facilities to teach students the skills needed to diagnose and service the high-tech systems found on modern vehicles. In partnership with area automotive corporations who use the space for training purposes, the program also offers students paid cooperatives with full job placement upon graduation.

“We’re looking at the industry that we’re trying to create career paths to and working together with our partners to create inclusive facilities that prepare our students for the workforce. It’s not just about people who design higher education, it’s about finding people who understand the automotive repair industry to create a real-life world where students are going to learn and understand what’s needed for their field,” said Aaron Roberts, Executive Director of Administrative Services – Central Indiana, Ivy Tech Community College.

Flexibility in the classroom

Within the classroom, both teachers and students desire autonomy to create the kind of environment that is right for them on a daily, and sometimes minute-by-minute, basis. This kind of flexibility includes choosing the type of seat or space that is right for the kind of work at hand, as well as the ability to quickly move between instruction modes, from direct instruction to small groups or individual study.

Science labs are traditionally known for their bulky furniture and fixed locations for plumbing and gas utilities, but they can be designed to be flexible from lab to lab and over time. Locating sinks and gas along the room’s perimeter and providing flexible lab tables allows the interior of the space to shift as needed. Overhead access to power can replace floor boxes for increased flexibility, as well as for cleanliness and safety. 

Flexibility beyond the classroom

An emphasis on collaboration with others means that students need more room than a traditional classroom can sometimes provide. Extended learning areas and small group rooms adjacent to classrooms are dedicated spaces for a few individuals to do project work together. In older buildings lacking space for these larger areas, schools may remove display cases or even lockers in hallways to add a work surface where students can gather to collaborate. Regardless of their size, these spaces all feature varied seating, writeable surfaces, and integrate technology.

In new buildings, we can strategically plan to locate lockers and cubbies in other areas of the buildings to create intentional spaces that support collaborative work.

Flexibility in the rest of the school building

A flexible media center can accommodate a broad range of groups and activities. From individual work, to hosting single or multiple classes, staff meetings, school groups, or community use, they can be utilized all day and even beyond school hours.

Activating a media center for this kind of flexibility requires a large, open space with flexible furniture. While books still play a critical role in education, placing them at the perimeter and on mobile shelving units can help to provide more flexible space. Breakout rooms are important for individual or small group work and can be fully separate or utilize operable partitions to join them into a larger instructional space if needed. And lastly these spaces need integrated technology at all grade levels.

Cafeterias of the past were frequently only utilized at mealtimes, sitting vacant for much of the day. Now a centrally located cafeteria can function more like a commons space, serving as dining space, overflow area for events, and a desirable destination for individual study. Proper furniture, lighting, and location all contribute to these spaces being used beyond meals. Both cafeterias and gymnasiums can serve as meeting spaces for large groups if they have the proper technology.

Risk 2: Science Labs & Maker Spaces

The National Safety Council estimates that 5,000 safety-related accidents occur in American science classrooms each year – accounting for roughly 10% of accidents in schools.¹ The rise in popularity of maker spaces in non-science classrooms presents new risk as well. Project learning that involves equipment and a need for movement also requires design that integrates safety.

The best way to reduce these accidents is to limit lab-based classes to 24 students, or to increase square footage to 50-60 net SF per student.² Designing spaces that fall in that size range can be easier to achieve in new construction, but we have also helped schools renovate in creative ways to gain square footage within the footprint of an existing science wing.

Labs that are shared between classrooms can allow ample space for experimentation while also saving on overall square footage. They have the added benefit of allowing experiments to stay set up when they have a longer duration, but locked when not being used. A primary consideration in the layout and positioning of a lab is to ensure clear lines of sight for monitoring students while in the lab.

Considering how and where to store chemicals and flammable materials can improve safety in the science lab. Locked flammable cabinets can save on square footage where storage needs are not substantial. Where storage needs are significant, it makes sense to consider modifying the layout of a science wing to accommodate one or more centralized and secured rooms for chemical storage. Specific safety measures required by code include strategically located gas shutoff valves and the incorporation of emergency shower and eye wash stations.