MakerSpace program students Cassandra Cabrera, 13, left, and Damian Morales, 13, silkscreen shirts at Sierra Vista Middle School in La Puente on Thursday. The unique hand-on laboratory allows students to find to explore, build and use technology creatively.
Robots roamed the room, optical and ultrasonic sensors silently guiding them around obstacles. Sierra Vista students continued to work on electronic circuit boards, building security alarms, cooling fans and other whirligigs.
Others displayed the video games and computer coding they had constructed themselves. All were proud of the engineering accomplishments the seventh and eighth graders have achieved thanks to the Makerspace lab sponsored by the Alcoa Foundation.
“We’ve seen significant increases in attendance and math scores, as well a rising interest in careers in science and engineering,”…