STEAM in the Past
How It Started |
In 2018, Blankner was honored to be selected as one of Orange County Public School's first twelve Innovation Schools. In response to this accolade, our Principal, Dr. Junella Kreil, in collaboration with school and parent leadership, made the conscious and committed decision to focus ongoing achievement around the STEAM approach to holistic learning, which creatively integrates the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and design, and Math. This approach encourages creative thinking, collaboration, problem solving and grit. Students have the freedom to explore, learn, and implement ideas and solutions without neither the stress or motivation of a grade at the end. This opportunity builds intrinsic motivation to grow and succeed.
A group of dedicated teachers, staff and volunteers launched the STEAM committee early in 2018 as a subcommitte of the Blankner School Advisory Council (SAC) to explore, plan and ultimatly design the vision, mission and spaces that drive our current STEAM initiatives. The team visited other schools and organizations for inspiration such as Factur Makerspace, the Florida Hospital Innovation Lab, and the Melrose Center for Technology, Innovation, and Creativity, located inside the Downtown Orlando Public Library. After many meetings and brainstorming sessions, an initial plan was put in place to re-purpose multipls spaces on the Blankner K8 campus to bring this vision to life for all students.
Thanks to generous funding from Blankner PTSA, the Blankner Foundation, Lowes Tools for Schools, the City of Orlando, and other donors, the committee was able to transform the old computer lab into what is now the Fabrication Lab - a space where all grades meet to explore and implement the design process. Our hydroponics systems are also located in the Fab Lab. In addition, an office that was connected to the computer lab was converted to the Living Lab where our school pets now reside and the Creature Club was formed to care for them. Food from the hydroponics and outdoor gardens help to keep our school pets well-fed. Finally, an old storage room of the back of the Media Center was converted to the Collaboration Lab - a space built for creating thinking, brainstorming, learning, and collaboration. Our Makerspace tools are also housed in this space. You'll find a large multi-functional table, built by our friends at Factur, that can be used as both a work table, and flipped to be a to scale competition robotics table.
A group of dedicated teachers, staff and volunteers launched the STEAM committee early in 2018 as a subcommitte of the Blankner School Advisory Council (SAC) to explore, plan and ultimatly design the vision, mission and spaces that drive our current STEAM initiatives. The team visited other schools and organizations for inspiration such as Factur Makerspace, the Florida Hospital Innovation Lab, and the Melrose Center for Technology, Innovation, and Creativity, located inside the Downtown Orlando Public Library. After many meetings and brainstorming sessions, an initial plan was put in place to re-purpose multipls spaces on the Blankner K8 campus to bring this vision to life for all students.
Thanks to generous funding from Blankner PTSA, the Blankner Foundation, Lowes Tools for Schools, the City of Orlando, and other donors, the committee was able to transform the old computer lab into what is now the Fabrication Lab - a space where all grades meet to explore and implement the design process. Our hydroponics systems are also located in the Fab Lab. In addition, an office that was connected to the computer lab was converted to the Living Lab where our school pets now reside and the Creature Club was formed to care for them. Food from the hydroponics and outdoor gardens help to keep our school pets well-fed. Finally, an old storage room of the back of the Media Center was converted to the Collaboration Lab - a space built for creating thinking, brainstorming, learning, and collaboration. Our Makerspace tools are also housed in this space. You'll find a large multi-functional table, built by our friends at Factur, that can be used as both a work table, and flipped to be a to scale competition robotics table.
