Gintert says of the pathway, “Innovation Generation has offered my students the opportunity to problem-solve using current technology.” He adds, “The greatest success of the program is when students can go from conceptualization to design, and then to prototype creation. Before, we could design it, but now we can build it with the industry-grade equipment in our MIT Mobile Fab Lab.”

Recently, Gintert’s high school students in the engineering and robotics class designed and printed – using a 3D printer – smartphone cases. Gintert notes that, “The students are proud to share their products with their peers, and it serves as a great way to promote all the cool things they are doing in these courses to those students who are not in the program.”

When asked about the biggest challenge he has faced incorporating the pathway into his classroom, Gintert says it was the timeline to get the program up and running.

“For me, training and getting up to speed on how to work the equipment was a challenge,” he says. “I don’t always have as much time as I’d like to work on the equipment and to get a deeper understanding of how the different pieces all work.”

Gintert has overcome this challenge by creating a more collaborative environment with the students.

“I let them know early on that I might not have all the answers, but we’ll solve the problems together,” he says. “This has been very rewarding in my classroom as the students are receptive to that additional level of engagement and teamwork. I see myself as a facilitator of their learning rather than just instructing.” 

Mr. Gintert and some of his high school students will also appear in a serious of video vignettes promoting IGO and the Fab Lab.

Article reprinted from http://innovationgenerationohio.com/february-newsletter/#teacherspotlight