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Makerspaces

Where students are free to imagine and create.

Our makerspaces consist of the Tinker Space in the Lower School and the Design Lab in the Middle and High School. These spaces are sanctuaries where students are free to imagine and create without fear of failing. Through hands-on experiential learning labs, we empower and encourage students to experiment in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math while maintaining an alignment with the curriculum and school initiatives. 

The Tinker Space

In the Tinker Space, students discover and engage their creativity through hands-on activities using tools and recycled materials, art, 2D and 3D designs, coding, technology, robotics, STEM, and Web Radio.

Listen to recent Web Radio episodes or explore Tinker Space projects.

The Tinker Space welcomes students in grades 1 - 5 in a variety of different formats:

  • Daily Tinker Space @ Lunchtime Recess - Grades 4 & 5

  • Weekly After School Extra Curricular Classes - Grades 1 to 5

  • Class Projects: Specific projects in collaboration with teachers and the science lab

  • Special Events such as Hour of Code

The Design Lab

The Design Lab is a dynamic and experimental learning space at French American and International that offers a multidisciplinary curriculum for students in grades 6 through 12. In the Design Lab, hands-on projects and the design process are integrated into classes as diverse as Science, Visual Arts, and Math. 

Projects include:

  • Creating a "shake table" to study seismic movements in the Bay Area
  • Constructing kinetic toys by incorporationg mechanical movement
  • Designing a solar collector, a device that helps to understand how to harvest energy from the sun and convert it into electricity
  • Assembling a digital instrument

The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, such as:

  • 3-D printers
  • Mills
  • Laser cutter 
  • Foam cutter
  • Design tools and engineering software enabling students to create, produce, and build unique designs and prototypes.