The VW eLab at Normal Park Museum Magnet Lower School is an elementary digital fabrication and design-thinking lab serving Pre-K–3rd grade students. Rooted in our school’s museum magnet model, the lab integrates hands-on STEM, computational thinking, and digital fabrication into authentic, project-based learning experiences that culminate in public exhibits at the end of each quarter.
Students engage in the Design Process while developing essential skills such as collaboration, curiosity, deep understanding, and creativity. The lab specializes in age-appropriate digital fabrication, including 3D printing, 3D pen design, laser cutting, basic CAD modeling, robotics, and introductory coding platforms. Students also use analog engineering tools and building materials to prototype, test, and iterate solutions to real-world problems connected to their classroom learning.
Unlike a traditional makerspace focused solely on tools, the VW eLab emphasizes intentional skill progression from Pre-K through 3rd grade. Students build technical skill competencies alongside essential skills, growing from exploratory play and foundational tool use to independent design, data analysis, and iterative problem solving. Projects are often interdisciplinary and museum-style, empowering students to serve as docents who explain their thinking, process, and learning to families and community partners during Exhibit Night.
The VW eLab also serves as a hub for teacher collaboration and innovation. Classroom teachers partner with the VW eLab to extend core content into hands-on design challenges that deepen understanding through authentic application. The lab models how digital fabrication can be developmentally appropriate, rigorous, and student-centered—even for our youngest learners.
Through creativity, engineering, and computational thinking, the VW eLab cultivates empowered young makers who see themselves as designers, innovators, and problem-solvers.