Director Charlie Abelmann and members of the faculty are moving to establish two makerspaces within the Historic Campus.

With a designated “clean room” to be located in one of the classrooms behind the Pritzker Traubert Family Library and a “messy room” to be located on the third floor of the U-High building, students will have more opportunities to engage with different crafts and design principles than are offered in the Lab School curriculum.

“As the new leader of Lab I have really been trying to lean into the history of the school, and one of John Dewey’s core beliefs was learning by doing,” Dr. Abelmann said. “While ‘learning by doing’ or ‘learning experientially’ were the key phrases when he established the school in 1896, if you fast-forward to 2017 and you learn or read about makerspaces, it sort of is the modern-day version of learning by doing.”

Although two makerspaces exist for younger students at Earl Shapiro Hall and at the Historic Campus for Lower School students, the new rooms are intended for older students to build both creative and practical objects.

“My hope is that we can find a way to make this space available after school and on the weekends, so we have the most access for students to create ideas that embrace those differences in the art of making,” Dr. Abelmann said.

These makerspaces are intended to encourage interdisciplinary exploration and to cultivate a stronger sense of curiosity among Lab students.

Dr. Abelmann held two meetings alongside principals and teachers from all divisions of the Lab Schools and representatives from the art, science, math and computer science departments.

Rather than buying and installing furniture for the two spaces, Dr. Abelmann intends to have a community building day, so students, parents and faculty can build the furniture themselves.

The administration is also investigating the possibility of hiring a new faculty member to facilitate construction and experimentation within the makerspaces and to invest in partnerships with members of the Hyde Park community.

Although there is currently no timeline to implement the makerspaces, Dr. Abelmann believes they will be available for use within the current school year.