November 2, 2015 at 4:34 p.m.

District may build 'Fab Lab' at high school

District may build 'Fab Lab' at high school
District may build 'Fab Lab' at high school

Don Sidlowski, who was instrumental in helping the Three Lakes and Florence school districts build so-called fabrication laboratories "Fab Labs" spoke to the School District of Rhinelander Board of Education recently about the possibility of building a lab at Rhinelander High School.

Sidlowski, Government/Civic Strategist of the Northwoods Broadband and Economic Development Coalition, said the Fab Lab concept has proven to be extremely beneficial to those districts who have embraced it.

"This may be the first time I have said this to this board of education, but as I have said around the state many times, Fab Lab will become the educational model in the United States in the next decade. And any state or region that has the foresight to seize upon this quickly will have a strategic and tactical advantage that other states will have a hard time catching up to," Sidlowski said.

What is a Fab Lab?

The Fab Lab initiative is based on a concept created by Dr. Neil Gershenfeld at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology around 2000. According to the MIT website, Fab Labs are designed to not only provide widespread access to the modern tools of production and invention, but also train tomorrow's workers in the emerging technologies involved in using this technology.

Fab Labs began as an outreach project from MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA). CBA assembled millions of dollars in machines for research in digital fabrication, ultimately aiming at developing programmable molecular assemblers that will be able to make almost anything. Fab Labs do not go to such extremes, but are comprised of roughly $50,000 in equipment and materials that can be used today to do what will be possible with tomorrow's personal fabricators, according to the website.

"The idea was that there shouldn't be parts of the world that aren't able to have the same access to the same technology pool that we have here in the Unites States," Sidlowski said. "So (Gershenfeld) wanted to create a global educational community based upon this idea that there is a place where you can create. But it is really about the curriculum first, and the stuff in the lab second."

Not only do Fab Labs provide a formal learning environment for students, they also provide an informal learning environment for those in the community who also make use of the equipment in the lab and therefore learn the technology, Sidlowski noted.

"That is what the Fab Lab is all about, open source, open resources," Sidlowski said. "Everything about Fab Lab is open, there is nothing about it that is closed. You have access to all the other labs in the world."

All of the existing Fab Labs are connected to each other through high-speed connections and can share information in real time, allowing students to share knowledge with each other.

"When I got involved with this, there was only less than 100 Fab Labs in United States; now there are over 500 in more than 50 countries," Sidlowski said.

Four major components

According to Sidlowski, there are four major components that a Fab Lab must have.

"The first is public access," he said. "In Three Lakes, the lab is open Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. You must be open to the public. Why are you open to the public, because you have entrepreneurs, you have inventors, you've got business people who will be able to use the stuff in that lab. They couldn't afford a fully-tricked out 3-D printer, but there is one in your lab."

He noted businesses will pay a fee for the use of the lab, plus any materials they use.

"I think Three Lakes charges $10 a semester, so $20 for an annual membership," Sidlowski said.

Fab Labs must also subscribe to the MIT Fab Lab Charter, which deals with common resources and tools, common methodology and the interconnectivity of all the labs.

"It's not really a legal document, it's not anything you sign, it's just that you agree to do everything that anyone else who has an MIT chartered lab has," he said.

All Fab Labs have a common set of tools and processes. Just having a 3-D printer doesn't make a school's lab a Fab Lab, Sidlowski explained.

"Even if you have every tool in the Fab Lab, that doesn't make you a Fab Lab unless you commit to the curriculum, starting with pre-K or 4K, as you may call it, all the way through the 12th grade," he said.

The Fab Lab also has to agree to be part of the global network.

Wisconsin 2nd in US

While Massachusetts, home to MIT, has the most Fab Labs, Wisconsin is second and the Three Lakes lab was first K-12 lab in any state, Sidlowski noted. Florence is about to launch its K-12 lab. If the School District of Rhinelander commits to building one, Oneida County will be the first county in the state to have two K-12 labs.

Through the Fab Labs and his work bringing high-speed Internet to the Northwoods, Sidlowski said he is working to secure a place for the area in future manufacturing. A non-compensated volunteer and a former businessman, Sidlowski said he knows the impact Fab Labs can have on education.

"There is nothing we can't do up here that they can do elsewhere in the state," Sidlowski said. "We just lack the methodology and structure to do it."

As he did with the Three Lakes and Florence boards of education, when asked how the district would pay for the Fab Lab, he said it would require a leap of faith. He assured both districts he would find the funding to make their labs happen and he was able to deliver.

Fab Lab curriculum

The Fab Lab curriculum is based on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM). He noted that art was added to the original four elements because it was quickly discovered that it was an important component.

"The whole idea behind the Fab Lab is to inspire creation in the students," Sidlowski said.

It is important that the students be allowed to try, and in the process of trying, either succeed or fail, he added.

"Part of the idea is to teach children the real world consequences and ramifications of when you go through a process and it doesn't work out right. Go back and do it again; here's how to do it," Sidlowski said. "And it is creating assets for the community."

He explained that he first got into the Fab Lab movement because of the 3-D printing aspect, which he calls a "disruptive technology" that will eventually revolutionize manufacturing. Why should people have to buy a toothbrush made in China, shipped to a warehouse in the United States and eventually to a store in Rhinelander, when you can print one in your own house, he mused.

"It's going to change everything we know about technology," Sidlowski said. "This is going to change all the supply chains, it's going to change demand."

As the technology behind 3-D printing becomes cheaper, Sidlowski predicted within the next 25 years many private citizens will have a printer in their homes. While this may seem like a bold prediction, he noted it has happened before. Microwave ovens are an example, he said.

"You can cook a potato in 20 minutes! Remember the old-fashioned way, you wrapped it in tinfoil and put in the oven or on the grill and it took an hour," Sidlowski said. "Now if you have a microwave that takes 20 minutes to cook a potato, you'd throw it out the window because the price has been driven down by the technological improvements. The same thing will happen with 3-D printers."

Small 3-D printers can now be purchased for under $1,000. The Three Lakes Fab Lab has four of these "trainer printers" and one $40,000 model. Sidlowski said people learn the process by using the smaller printers before graduating to the bigger one.

Fab Labs help create jobs

Sidlowski said the Fab Lab movement will help Wisconsin manufacturing grow by providing 21st century job training for students to prepare them for professions that don't require a four-year education, what is referred to as "middle skills." He said he is committed to help put Fab Labs in Vilas, Lincoln, Forest, Langlade, Oconto, Marathon and Oneida counties. With two K-12 labs in Oneida County, it would help attract business and foster growth in those already in the area. He said bringing broadband to the northern seven counties of the state has helped dispute the view of many people that the area has little to offer manufacturers. In addition to large business, the lab will be a boon to small start-ups, he said.

"The Fab Lab is one practical economic development expression of why we put the broadband structure in place," he said. "We brought the broadband to the schools, we brought broadband to the community. It's because of all the cottage industry that will spring up around the Fab Lab as a center of excellence."

Funding availability

Three years ago it was suggested that the state government provide an economic incentive for school districts to start building their own Fab Labs, Sidlowski said. At that time, the legislature declined to do so, but that has slowly changed.

"We took matters into our own hands when it came to that one and worked on the bi-annual budget with members of the joint finance committee this year," he said. "We were very fortunate in districts 34, 35 and 36, which is basically the whole northeast corner of the state... and we were able to get a half-million dollars in funding in this year's bi-annual budget to pay for stuff."

Sidlowski said the cost of equipment is the big drawback school districts face, especially with budgets being slashed due to declining state aid and property values.

"They can get a Fast Forward grant to develop curriculum and help with teacher education, but 3-D printers cost money, laser engravers cost money. Where are they going to find money to buy stuff? So we set it up as a match grant, very much like the Department of Tourism JEM grant, which is a three-year program that goes 75-25, 50-50 and 25-75," Sidlowski said.

Many businesses, large and small, throughout the state are having trouble finding potential employees with the necessary "middle skills" training needed for their industries, Sidlowski said. Students coming out of the Fab Labs will have the necessary skills, either right out of high school or with a little additional training at technical schools. This will also help drive entrepreneurship in smaller towns.

"It's because everything truly is connected in the world we know now," Sidlowski said. "Smart communities are connected and they go on to flourish."

Funding is becoming easier as state government gets behind the Fab Lab movement with several state agencies starting block grants to help fund both the establishment and maintenence of the labs.

"There is also going to be industries and private foundations who will provide support," he said. "Industry wants to help."

Board member David Holperin asked what kind of staffing and supervision the lab would need. Sidlowski said the Three Lakes lab has a full-time director and three teachers who also teach other subjects. Steve Yahr, the director of the Three Lakes lab, will be shared with the new lab in Florence.

Boards fine-tune learning

The Fab Lab curriculum, Engineering is Elementary, is incorporated into all classes starting at kindergarten all the way up to grade 12.

"Every school board decides how much they want to incorporate in kindergarten, how much to add to middle school and high school," Sidlowski said. "There is no one model that everyone has to fit into. You basically decide what you feel fits best with your existing curriculum."

Superintendent Keli Jacobi said the Fab Lab would be tied to the district's existing fabricating shop at the high school. Additional staffing won't be needed.

"We will just have to provide the professional development, which there are grants available for that," she said.

Sidlowski said students as young as first grade have been able to design and 3-D print their own projects using the equipment in the Fab Lab for a project that arose from their art class.

Later in the meeting, the board voted unanimously to explore the creation of a Fab Lab in the district to include applying for funding grants.

No district money is tied to the approval, however.

"It (the approval) would allow me to start the process," Jacobi said.

Jamie Taylor may be reached at jtaylor@ lakelandtimes.com.

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