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STEAM Innovation Center

Welcome to the STEAM Innovation Center

The Mill Road Elementary School STEAM Innovation Center is a unique learning resource outfitted with a wide array of blocks, art supplies, technology and other creative resources for hands-on learning.

The brightly lit double classroom includes a comfortable semi-circle of couch space and chairs facing a large monitor for teachers to introduce and discuss lessons; several white boards; dozens of boxes and crates of building materials and technology, including 3D printers and a special tool for cutting cardboard into patterns safely; and a large vertical Lego wall toward the center of the space, among other amenities.

STEAM Teacher Sybil Bell has created a standardized lesson-plan and approach for the students, which not only supports the existing curriculum but introduces new ideas. Grades 3-5 students visit the space with their regular classes as part of their regular special area instruction, like art and music class.

The lab, which debuted in 2023, is also utilized for the STEAM Lunch Club, the Young Scholars program, the summer STEAM camp and other special events and lessons.

A sign for the Mill Road 3-5 STEAM Innovation Center hangs in a school hallway.

Why STEAM?

“It gives them an opportunity to not only problem solve, but work together and collaborate.
They need that for the changing world.”

- Sybil Bell, STEAM Teacher

Sample Projects

  • Wrecking Balls

    Students learned about potential and kinetic energy by building their own wrecking balls and knocking down towers of varying heights.

  • Magnetic Cars

    Using just the force of magnetism, students learned to attract and repel cars through a course.

  • Dactylopscopy

    Students explored the science of using fingerprint patterns to identify each other by studying their own fingerprints.

Children sit at a round table, possibly working on a project.
Two 3D printers sit on a table in a workshop setting.
A modern classroom with colorful chairs and a large screen.
Children collaborate on a project at a table, focused on their work.
A colorful storage unit with multiple compartments filled with various items.
Two students sit at a table in a classroom, interacting with each other.
Three young people collaborate on a science experiment at a table.
A colorful display of toys and building blocks on a white surface.
Children gather around a table, working on a project together.
Shelves stocked with neatly arranged blue boxes.
Children gather around a table in a classroom setting.
A child builds with wooden blocks on a table.