District working on maker lab
Acton-Agua Dulce lands grant to assist with development
ACTON — Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District received a new Teacher of the Year Equitable Innovation grant from the Los Angeles County Office of Education and its philanthropic arm, the Greater LA Education Foundation, to develop a maker lab with 3D printers.
The LA County Office of Education received nearly 200 grant applications from 45 school districts across the county. The County announced that 30 educator projects from 20 school districts are the first to receive the grants.
Acton-Agua Dulce Unified teachers Nicole Chun, Michelle VanOrnum and Alexa Lepp submitted the successful application.
“Ultimately our goal is to have a central makerspace at the Acton School campus at the District office to be shared by all three school sites,” Chun said.
They also hope to have more fabrication tools such as vacuum formers and laser cutters. Teachers would be able to send a file needed to create an object. The objects could then be printed and picked up.
“I had a 3D printer in my classroom, and having kids be able to see the things that they created come to life is pretty powerful,” Chun said.
Chun is a teacher on special assignment. She does kindergarten through eighth-grade home school, instructional technology and professional development.
Lepp is also a teacher on special assignment teaching students in ninth through 12th grade. VanOrnum works at High Desert Middle School, where she teaches math, ASB, video production, yearbook and PE.
The grant is worth $4,500. The educators will use the funds to purchase four 3D printers, some 3D doodler pens for the younger students and PLA filament.
“I think it’s really cool and unique for our Dis
trict,” Lepp said. “One of the things our team was talking about was it’s unique to have a K-12 district. So we wanted to also use the makerspace as a way for leadership roles to also form and ways for us to connect with our community.”
The goal is for high school or middle school students to mentor younger students at the elementary school to show them how the 3D printer works and what they can make with it.
“We’re building leaders within our students and encouraging them to take on the task of mentoring younger students as they learn,” VanOrnum said. “So our goal is to not just train our teachers how to use it but train our students, and then the students become the trainer of trainers. They become the mentors for the next groups coming in.”