Last week, grade 7 science students put their engineering skills to the test by building airplanes in the middle school campus’ innovation lab. Teacher Raji Swaminathan had taken the students to the middle school amphitheater to try out normal paper airplanes when, she said, “Scott [Kley Contini, grades 6-8 Learning, Innovation and Design Director], who was walking by, asked me if the Innovation Lab could have helped the kids build the planes.”

The students then headed to the lab and were instructed to build planes with the wealth of materials that were available to them. Kley Contini offered the students advice on how to get creative as they worked on their aircraft. One group of students went so far as to construct a wind tunnel to test the effects of tailwinds and headwinds. “I would’ve used just a fan, but Scott came up with the idea for a wind tunnel that would channel the breeze from the fan through which the plane flew,” said Swaminathan. “It was just a fantastic experience for those of my classes who were able to go to the Innovation Lab.”