Einstein Project takes science education on the road

GREEN BAY – Local nonprofit, the Einstein Project, is reaching rural audiences through their new mobile design lab.

The Einstein Mobile Design Lab represents the intersection of science and art.

The Makerspace Director of Einstein Projects, Dennis Rockhill, explained what is offered in the mobile STEM lab, “The process of 3D printing and laser cutting and every now and then we’ll do a hands on build it yourself project.

“We’re all about creativity and design thinking. So, we want to promote a higher level of creativity and we want to promote design thinking. It’s essentially just problem solving and it’s a skill that can be built. So, the 3D printing, the laser cutting… That’s just one way of doing design thinking. It can be applied to just about anything; this is just a fun way to do it.”

Rockhill described the lab’s unique design.

“The inside of it here, we have set it up like this first half is a classroom,” he added.

Due to the set-up, staff has the ability to teach a class of 10 children, adults and seniors about design and programming from any community at any time.

“It’s also incredibly valuable for the state and our region to really give that opportunity and see if we can help push a child or push children towards a very fruitful career in the STEM field,” ATC Manager of Corporate Affairs Axel Owens said.
ATC is a sponsoring company on the project.

The Einstein on wheels is not only a fun summer activity for kids, but a highly needed bridge for children in rural communities to have access to STEM education.

Owens said, “The reality is, students in rural communities are oftentimes less likely to pursue a stem degree after high school, and it’s not because of a lack of interest. It’s really because they have limited opportunities. And so, we wanted to make a strategic change in that — kind of really focus in on the smaller towns, focus in on the areas that are often forgotten communities — this idea of a STEM desert.

“So that’s really why ATC’s made this focus: we want to make sure we are providing students across the state of Wisconsin an opportunity to kind of learn…regardless of where they are. It’s really about the idea of including everybody and giving them a chance because the next great STEM mind might be coming from a small town in Wisconsin. If we can really encourage that, that’s value for everybody in the state and allows everybody to have that opportunity. It’s something we consider incredibly valuable.”

The Einstein lab thrives on public interaction and partnerships.
Rockhill stated that they love to partner with “libraries, Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA,” and anyone else interested.

Owens said that ATC would “love to expand this program.”

“I think the resounding success we’ve had of just engagement from these communities is incredibly valuable. I mean, just last year, the mobile STEM lab helped 3,000 children across the state of Wisconsin and we’d like to grow that and make it bigger and make it larger, have more people and more towns involved, because this is an opportunity for them to have something unique and different that really provides an educational component for summer vacations.”