Karen Adams

STEM education

Karen Adams is the SMART (Science Math Arts Reading Technology) Lab Facilitator at Friendship Public Charter School’s Blow Pierce Junior Academy in Washington, D.C. The SMART Lab consists of two classroom spaces packed with technology and scientific equipment. Students use the lab once a week for a 90-minute period to work on projects that relate to a career track or that pique their interest.

The program seeks to develop life-long learners. Adams creates an environment where students are encouraged to follow their passions and think creatively. Rather than being directed to complete a certain project, students are given the opportunity, resources and guidance to create and learn.

Work in the SMART Lab is also interdisciplinary as students work through the many stages of inquiry and development. This includes planning, writing, testing, data analysis and design.

The lab consists of 20 stations, each enabling students to explore a different topic. The stations include audio engineering, video engineering, bridge building and robotics.

Adams incorporates the environment into the program through a hydroponics garden that the students maintain and monitor with the use of time-lapse photography.

Another group of students undertook a project where they examined different forms of energy from both scientific and economic perspectives. They then brainstormed about the inventions that could be made to help the energy dilemma and the various ways technology can make things better. Students working with robotics even created a coastal cleaning vacuum that would travel the ocean, detecting pollution and cleaning it up.

The lab was established through Creative Learning Systems, an organization that develops STEM-focused learning labs and media production systems for schools. Adams also works with other groups to enrich her students’ experiences. They regularly compete in a robotics competition that uses robotics to explore real-world issues. For the past two years Adams has traveled to Toronto with her students to participate in National Society of Black Engineers competitions.