With kids just about ready to pack their bags and get back in the classroom, Hillsboro students are diving into learning with hands-on lessons led by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
The OMSI lab embedded in Hillsboro’s Tamarack Elementary School offers local students a unique opportunity to explore science, math and more, stepping away from the books to engage with relevant, real-world problems.
Forged two years ago, the partnership between the school district and OMSI sprouted at Witch Hazel Elementary, where students had the chance to learn through after-school programs and day camps.
A new space on a new campus
An addition to the burgeoning development in South Hillsboro, Tamarack Elementary finished construction in August 2023, opening its doors to students and finding a home for OMSI’s dedicated facilities.
“This being a new space was perfect because we were able to design our specific labs. And so having this new development looks like a perfect chance to build those areas in, instead of trying to actively go and build them in an existing school and find that space,” Annemarie Eayrs, communications manager with OMSI, explained.
According to Eayrs, the initiative started as a program through OMSI’s “traveling education department,” which extends the museum’s educational reach across the region.
“This is kind of a newer model of embedding an educator within a larger institution. So we do a lot of traveling programs at libraries and state fairs and pop ups, but this is really our first embedded educator to really help with the continuity of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) learning,” Eayers said.
That educator is Madeline Ehl, who has been leading lessons in the district under OMSI since the start of the partnership.
“It's been really, really fun to watch (the students) grow throughout the year. It was such a new concept that I remember on the first day of school, the kids would come in be like, ‘what are we even going to do in this class?’” she said. “There was just this excitement and buzz around OMSI being within their school. And then each day kind of just brought a new opportunity for us to explore new topics that maybe they don't have enough time to fully dive into in their classroom.”
Focusing on the design cycle that “begins and ends with empathy,” the lessons involve creating models that students eventually present, according to Christy Walters, principal of Tamarack Elementary.
“They might be designing a different kind of car or some sort of transportation vehicle. So it's really nice because it's developmental," Walters said.
Currently, Tamarack is the only school to include an OMSI-embedded lab; that opens the doors for both local students and those from beyond.
“Bringing OMSI and to be able to support those sorts of opportunities for kids who don't get to cross the river all the time, who, unlike myself, didn't have a family pass to be able to take their child across the river, and it's just far enough that it can feel inaccessible. So bringing it here is a huge gift, but it's also a right of our educational and shared experiences,” Walters said.
Extending learning beyond school
The facility has also created space for continued education during the break from school — and poses opportunities for kids to take their learning a step further.
This summer, OMSI has used the space to host seasonal classes, bringing students from Washington County and other schools across the Portland metro to South Hillsboro.
On Thursday, Aug. 22, second and third graders built pinball machines out of Lego bricks in the OMSI lab, which they would go on to program to become “playable.”
“Kids are simultaneously building and also learning how to do some basic coding in order to make their Lego operations work,” Ehl said.
Upstairs, fourth and fifth graders filled the “Think Tank” — a dedicated OMSI conference room — while creating their own lava lamps.
Eventually, the Think Tank, dedicated as a space for small group work, will transform into a presentation room for students to share their work with the larger community.
“Down the road, one of our goals at OMSI is creating this kind of museum model within the school,” Ehl said. “So our whole thought process behind it is eventually, as they start to build and design those things, to have a bunch of OMSI board members come out and sit in the room and they can pitch their ideas for what they would like to see at the museum.”
“The goal is really to expand this even greater than what we're at now. And with that, we hope that we have support from other grants to do it,” she said.
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