Swampscott Elementary School students interact with new technologies every day, particularly in the innovation lab, where Bee-Bots and Wonder Workshop Dash robots are used.

The Bee-Bots resemble the insects they’re named for, complete with a face and smile. Along the back are buttons students use to operate them, helping teach sequencing, problem-solving, and directional counting.

The Dash robots look more futuristic, made up of three bright blue spheres on wheels with another sphere on top containing a camera-like “eye.” They can respond to voices and sounds, dance, sing and interact with students.

Students engage with coding in developmentally appropriate lessons as they sequence the tools and interact with simple computations to complete specific tasks.

“It’s exciting for them because when they go to code.org, it’s just a character on a computer moving. Now it’s physical,” said media and digital learning specialist Priscilla King. “They’re able to touch it and see it moving in front of them with the code that they create.”

Media and digital learning specialists Allyson LaConte and King teach in a hands-on, activity-based environment. When the Swampscott Elementary School opened in 2024, the innovation lab became a key part of students’ learning experience. Elementary students can foster creativity and teamwork while learning technologies they will use throughout the Swampscott School District and beyond. Students visit the innovation lab eight times during the school year, and LaConte said she hopes to collaborate with additional classes in the future.

“Our vision was to have a creative space where students can experiment with new ideas and projects and encourage problem solving and teamwork through hands-on activities,” LaConte said. 

When Lytania Mackey became the district’s director of technology, digital learning, and innovation, the Swampscott High School had eliminated its librarian position. Mackey worked to re-envision the entire library – which then became a district-wide remodel.

“No books were taken out. We had an outdated PC computer lab,” Mackey said. “So by the time we reopened school in 2022 (after the COVID-19 pandemic), the high school library was this whole different place, and when we were doing that, we were in the middle of this six-year project for this (elementary school) building.”

With input from others, Mackey concluded that the elementary school’s science and library spaces needed to be reconceptualized.

“It was about redefining and protecting the role of the school libraries originally, but then it became so much more about equity and how do we do the STEM work because all the technology was going into the libraries. All of our librarians had to suddenly shift their perspectives.”

LaConte and King both described themselves as “open to tech.” They attended CS for Mass workshops and learned new tools to use with students. The CS Engage Grant has also helped promote more rigorous digital literacy and computer science standards at Swampscott Elementary School.

“One of those tools was the Makey Makey, and I said, ‘That’s it. That’s what we need to use for the innovation lab,’” King said. 

The Makey Makey allows students to design their own controllers using everyday conductive materials and create circuits that mimic a keyboard or mouse.

“It’s a fun experience,” one student said in a video LaConte and King shared. “I love to create things.”

The two developed lessons on conductors, testing materials – from erasers to playdough and even their own bodies – using energy strips. Students then created electric circuits that lit up drawings of gingerbread men. They also played computer games using Makey Makey-powered controllers that triggered specific keys and the space bar.

In another unit, students researched animals’ needs, habitats, and life cycles, then coded text and audio for interactive posters.

“We looked at the science standards and pulled some topics from that,” King said. “But once they started working, they did what was expected and they also were innovative and experimented.”

Students collaborated naturally on projects, which King said is “usually a skill you have to teach,” but in the innovation lab “the students did unbelievably working together, giving each other turns, using their words to explain what they were thinking and collaborating to have that conversation.”

Now, students are “showing that they understand what innovation means” as they move on to middle school for classes like Wes Geraci’s robotics.

“We want to really integrate the content,” King said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity that they get to have. It’s pretty amazing.”