Science in the Clouds
If you’ve heard about Forsyth’s NEW Eyas Program for ages 2–3 moving into the current stand-alone Science Center for the 2020/21 school year, you might be wondering about our plans for Science! Well, wonder no longer!
The transformation of the Science Center into the “Falcon’s Nest” for the Eyas Program is actually just one of a two-part renovation project with Mackey Mitchell Architects, which also includes the relocation of the Science Center to a brand-new Science Lab on the third floor of New House.
Upper School Science Teacher Sharon Anibal has been working closely with Mackey Mitchell Architects to custom design the space, which currently serves as a workshop and storage. This relocation puts Forsyth’s Lower and Upper School Science Labs “next door” to each other (or just across the fire escape connecting New House with Fillmore House), enabling more collaboration between Sharon and Christine Torlina, Forsyth’s Lower School Science Teacher.
The current and new spaces are shaped differently but sized very similarly (just under 800 square feet). The new Science Lab will provide more storage, a bathroom, AND access to the beloved New House Clock Tower. (Future plans just might include the addition of a weather station!) Perhaps most importantly, the new space will offer much more flexibility than the current Science Center, with movable furniture and fixtures optimally sized and placed for the ages of our students, in order to best support their daily exploration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Sharon says:
“Having the ability to quickly adjust my lab layout from one grade to the next is going to be incredible! It will give me the freedom to adapt my lesson space to meet the needs of my students and to provide the best lab layout for each individual lesson. For example, I could have my Grade 3 students seated individually at lab tables to create scribble robots in the morning, and then I could completely rearrange my room in the afternoon so that my Grade 5 students could use the entire floor space to build Rube Goldberg contraptions. I will be able to put all of the lab tables together for a large-group class discussion OR break them up into separate lab stations for small-group teamwork. Having a flexible Science Lab space is going to be awesome!”
We are so excited that the new Eyas Program also gives us the opportunity to further enhance Forsyth's renowned Science curriculum.