The graphics for the new WCS STEM Bus were designed by WCHS students. The design was created by Karisa Clark, Joelle Scram, Drew Tomasok and Noemi Lopez, all students in Kelly Morrow’s Visual Communication class.
(Photo provided)

In August 2013, Warsaw Community School Corporation first announced plans to create a the new WCS S.T.E.M. Bus that would offer a state-of-the-art mobile lab to impact teacher professional learning and student learning and would provide a visual commitment to both the community and school system toward S.T.E.M. education.

Today, nearly a year later, the bus is nearing completion and is set to roll-off the manufacturing line and into Warsaw.

The lab, which began construction in January, is funded in part through a donation by OrthoWorx, which committed a total of $300,000 toward the school corporation’s “Moving STEM Forward” plan, and through the school corporation, which provided approximately $182,000 of its own funds toward the plan.

According to WCS Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott, the provision by the corporation for the S.T.E.M. initiative is a part of the school corporation’s planned budget and will not be taken out of the WCS general fund (see related).

Hoffert and his research team presented information about the development of the mobile S.T.E.M. lab earlier this year, stating that as far as they knew, this will be the only mobile S.T.E.M. lab owned by a school and not a research institute or similar establishment.

According to Hoffert, the bus will be able to support up to 30 elementary school kids at a time and will be equipped with touch screen monitors, two iPads at each of the six learning stations, a wireless network and computers as well as a flap that opens outside of the bus with a monitor that will show students and parents outside the bus a live view of the activities within. The bus, which will act as an interactive mobile laboratory, will cater toward community strengths by keeping the biomedical industry in mind.

The bus will focus on inquiry; placing value on student driven questions and putting the students in charge of their own learning. In some units, students will be encouraged to “Think Like an Engineer.”

For example, students will follow an engineering design process to guide them in solving a problem. Depending on the grade level, that could be engineering a knee brace, robotic car or sturdy chair.

In other units, students will be encouraged to “Think like a Scientist.” In these grades, students will investigate questions relating to many different topics, from the warmth of mittens, to adaptations of Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

The bus brings materials not available in the average classroom. For example, Lego robotics, mini iPad and Vernier science probes.

According to school officials, it is also important to note that beyond the activities on the bus, classroom teachers will be trained to implement both pre and post bus activities that tie in with the bus visit and bring inquiry learning to the classroom.

The graphics for the new WCS S.T.E.M. Bus were designed by WCHS students. The design was created by Karisa Clark, Joelle Scram, Drew Tomasok and Noemi Lopez, all students in Kelly Morrow’s Visual Communication class.