FAB LAB Three Lakes

What is a FAB LAB?
Good question!!

Fabrication Laboratories (Fab Labs) come from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA). MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms is an interdisciplinary initiative exploring the boundary between computer science and physical science. CBA studies how to turn data into things, and things into data. You may learn more about CBA at their website:

Center for Bits and Atoms

Fab Labs are an initiative from CBA. The fab lab program was initiated to broadly explore how the content of information relates to its physical representation and how an under-served community can be powered by technology at the grassroots level. The program began as a collaboration between the Grassroots Invention Group and CBA with a grant from the National Science Foundation (Washington, D.C.) in 2001.

The CBA Director, Dr. Neil Gershenfeld, has a wonderful Ted Talk presentation on fab labs.

A Fab Lab is comprised of off-the-shelf, industrial-grade fabrication and electronics tools, wrapped in open source software and programs written by researchers at MIT’s Center for Bits & Atoms. The Fab Lab suite of equipment supports design and fabrication activities. 2D and 3D software as well as micro scribes and scanners support the design portion of the project. To support the fabrication portion of the project vinyl cutters, laser engravers, 3D printers, mini-mills, CNC routers and plasma cutters. A video teleconferencing unit supports distance collaboration between labs.

Originally designed for communities as prototyping platforms for local entrepreneurship, Fab Labs are increasingly being adopted by schools as platforms for project-based, hands-on STEAM education. Users learn by designing and creating objects of personal interest or import. Empowered by the experience of making something themselves, they both learn and mentor each other, gaining deep knowledge about the machines, the materials, the design process, and the engineering that goes into invention and innovation. In educational settings, rather than relying on a fixed curriculum, learning happens in an authentic, engaging, personal context, one in which students go through a cycle of imagination, design, prototyping, reflection, and iteration as they find solutions to challenges or bring their ideas to life. This allows students to experience the joys and sorrows experienced in the work world.

Currently there are about 350 fab labs world-wide, including six in the state of Wisconsin. FAB LAB Three Lakes is the first K-12 fab lab in the state of Wisconsin.