Paul O’Malley is assistant superintendent for business services at Niles Township High School District 219. James McDonough is director of business development at IHC Construction Companies. Jason Lembke is director of K-12 education with Legat Architects.
If you walk down the science department corridor at either Niles North or Niles West high schools in Skokie, you will reach a large window that displays a learning environment unlike any other within the school. It looks like a high-tech research and development laboratory for a cutting-edge industry. Audiovisual technologies and sophisticated apparatus — a spectrophotometer, for instance — fill the space.
But, the most exciting thing about the space is what is happening within: aspiring scientists, engineers and mathematicians interact and explore both locally and globally. It is an exemplary 21st century learning environment that bonds science to industry.
These new Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) labs are just one of many accomplishments that result when administrators, board members and architects collaborate to create a capital development plan.
The ‘what’ and ‘how’
Many district employees have different perceived facility needs. Building and grounds managers focus on preventive maintenance, energy efficiency and student safety. Teachers want better classrooms and equipment to support lessons. Athletic directors want state-of-the-art training and competition venues. And technology directors want more bandwidth.
While some are quite vocal about their needs, others are reticent and less likely to share. Nevertheless, business managers must address everyone’s opinion of what projects need to be considered and which projects need to be prioritized. Such was the case in 2008 when Niles THSD 219 began to explore future projects for its two high school campuses totaling over one million square feet.
The solution was a five-year capital development plan: a roadmap that identifies, estimates, prioritizes and schedules anticipated projects. The plan responds to needs ranging from exterior/interior maintenance and equipment purchases to major renovations and new construction.
Developing a successful plan requires a rigorous process with frequent communication between all stakeholders and constant tweaking (and re-tweaking) of information and ideas. At D219, the process began with a visit to both Niles North and Niles West to talk to principals, facilities directors and department heads. With their input, a preliminary list was assembled with a conceptual understanding of what the needs were and how we could accomplish them.
Over the next three months, we worked with the administration to refine the lists and establish more detailed expectations for each project. The resulting spreadsheet categorized and prioritized nearly 200 work items based on the available funds. Once the board adopted the plan, the request volume went down. Everyone’s needs were heard, considered and scheduled, if they made the cut.
“Needs were judged on their merit to the district and alignment with board goals, not on the volume and persistence of their proponents,” said Jeff Greenspan, chair of the board’s facility committee.
Educate to innovate
The Obama administration recently introduced its “Educate to Innovate” campaign, “a nationwide effort to help reach the goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.” It heralded STEM education as the means to achieve that goal.
A STEM curriculum has many approaches. Some emphasize applied technologies, while others focus on sciences. In all cases, it is an integrated curriculum that supports research and development. In the Niles STEM labs, chemistry, biology and physics merge with engineering and mathematics. Technologies and equipment optimize research, interaction and critical thinking.
“STEM labs enable students to apply knowledge acquired in coursework towards authentic problem solving in a research setting,” said Lois Wisniewski, D219 director of science.
In an effort to set the standard for STEM education, D219 board members supported and approved STEM projects in January 2009 as part of the first round of projects in the capital development plan. They wanted the labs completed by August of that year — a very aggressive timeline.
By throwing its support behind the lab project, which closely aligned with the board’s goals, the board also identified funding by applying debt certificates to meet the $1.33 million construction price tag.
Meeting a tight schedule
The frequent and intense communication that drives successful capital planning also benefits individual projects — especially pioneering ones like STEM labs. The process was a group exploration and invention of math, science and engineering space for a curriculum that would recreate itself over time.
Programming and design occurred in January and February. We met weekly with many representatives: assistant superintendent for business services, director of science, director of applied sciences and technology, director of mathematics, directors of facilities, principals and assistant principals from both schools, representatives from Legat Architects and IHC Construction Companies, engineering consultants, and occasionally, the district superintendent.
After each meeting, Legat Architects refined the plan based on what the school needed. By the end of February, we had consensus that allowed us to get the project programmed, designed and documented for completion by August 2009.
Flexible and accessible
The diversity of disciplines represented by STEM education revealed a need for an environment that could handle a wide array of research projects and working arrangements. Furthermore, students needed easy access to power and data to carry out their experiments.
Although the shapes of the labs are completely different (Niles North is squarish and Niles West is long and narrow), they accommodate the same program. Each 3,000 square foot lab offers two primary zones, allowing independent study and group sessions to occur simultaneously. The Think Tank area supports presentations, conferencing and thinking out loud, with full AV input and output, a plasma TV, projectors/screens and interactive white boards. In R&D, students have everything they need to apply lessons toward invention and problem solving: flexible configurations, storage, places to plug in and equipment. Furthermore, R&D divides into areas for physics, chemistry and biology.
Furnishings and equipment adapt to the program. The tables can be positioned together or singularly, depending on whether large surface areas or linear areas are needed. The tables also can combine with countertop height for even greater expansion. Students have lockable carts for research materials. They can push the carts throughout the lab, and store them underneath counters. Each lab also has three lockable carrels for students working on sensitive long-term independent study projects and for materials that cannot be disturbed.
“No part of the lab is designed around a particular piece of technology or equipment,” said Christopher Powell, director of applied science and technology. “So when the time to upgrade these tools comes, the space is flexible enough to accommodate.”
The labs offer wireless connectivity, as well as data and power outlets layered high and low. The ceiling has power outlet reels, compressed air, and a room-length dual duct raceway with one side power and one side data. These elements further the adaptability of the labs. Moreover, by exposing them, the design celebrates the inner workings of the space to complement the exploration at the heart of STEM philosophy.
During programming, the science department expressed a desire to video experiments. The architects proposed a steel gridding system (often called a pipe batten in theater jargon, or monkey bars in playground jargon) that spans the ceiling. It enables students to suspend cameras, install task lighting and clamp on IP cameras to record and share their work with business partners, university mentors and peers — locally and globally.
Merging science, industry
Another district goal was that the STEM labs look different than other spaces in the school. Specifically, the district wanted to merge elements of the professional laboratory and the traditional shop to reflect the cross-curricular nature of the STEM program.
Materials and equipment played a large role in achieving this objective. For instance, metal cabinetry, chemical-resistant epoxy resin lab tables and rubber flooring create the industrial look of the production lab. Conversely, hints of the shop surface in the wood work tables and slop sinks.
The district also wanted to showcase the lab’s design, activity and equipment to get students excited about STEM applications. The large window along the corridor and the glass cabinets proved to be ideal solutions.
Authentic science
When students arrive at the STEM labs, they put their backpacks in cubbies that lock with a four-digit PIN. They pick up their lab coats, goggles and a laptop, and then begin their R&D. Or they head to the Think Tank to discuss their projects.
“I think this is authentic science for students,” said Jacklyn Naughton, a Niles North science teacher. “It’s not canned science. No one’s telling them what to think. They have to come up with their own experiment … work through all the bumps along the road.”
On January 29, about a year after programming sessions, D219 hosted the STEM Student Research Forum. Scientists and engineers from leading laboratories and corporations, as well as administrators and educators from more than 30 high schools and eight colleges, gathered at Niles North to discuss opportunities in student research. Attendees toured the new lab to learn about the latest in STEM layouts and applications at the high school level.
The labs have also enabled the district to host meetings for area teachers. The district’s “Sizzling Summer Science” program welcomed elementary and middle school students to the labs, and community members will be invited to attend student-led research symposiums.
Capitalizing on plans
Without a well-defined capital development plan, neither the STEM labs, nor any of the less glamorous projects at D219 would have come to fruition. Every year, we review the plan to determine exactly what projects need to be done. And now, we begin each project much earlier than January. The projects for 2010 were in design while we finished the 2009 projects. It is a constant cycle, with some projects completed, some in progress and others starting.
Sometimes, when we revisit the capital development plan, we discover project needs are more complex than anticipated, but the roadmap is there. With the roadmap, the district avoids “shooting from the hip” and making hasty decisions that it could regret later.
It also helps prevent strong district lobbyists from getting their way over less vocal stakeholders who have equally valuable ideas. The roadmap keeps things running smoothly and safely.
The most rewarding results of the roadmap are the projects like STEM … projects that capture student’s excitement and engage them in higher level thinking.