Our Lab Schools are Community-Based Lab Schools guided by Design Thinking & Improvement Science. Our schools incorporate:
- Education connections (student teaching, observations for teacher prep and other education candidates, testing out instructional models, applying theory to practice)
- Research (teachers & other school/division educators; university research)
- Innovation
- Curriculum development
- Professional development
Newport News-ODU
Maritime & Coastal Innovation Collaboratory (MCIC)
Community-Based Lab School outside the confines of the four walls of the building.
- Informed by established and successful programs across the country with intersecting ecological systems increasing the potential for sustainability and scalability
- Experiential learning laboratory school designed to meet the needs of the maritime industrial ecosystem that creates pipelines from K-12 through workforce and college.
- Informing research on best practices and growing the teacher pipeline
- We will begin in 8th-grade recruiting students, targeting approximately 60 to 100 students to enter annually into the 9th-grade cohort.
- Beginning in 11th grade, students will select one of three maritime-industry-oriented tracks
Chesapeake Public Schools
The Lab School @ OSM
Community-Based Lab School at Oscar Smith Middle School.
- Informed by established and successful programs across the country with intersecting ecological systems increasing the potential for sustainability and scalability
- Computer science – connected to the Virginia CS Lab School Network
- Grades 6-8
- Design Thinking Framework and Improvement Science
GO TEC
Old Dominion University has been awarded funding to facilitate the expansion of the Great Opportunities in Technology and Engineering Careers (GO TEC™) framework into additional Hampton Roads schools and school divisions.
ODU is the In-Region Coordinating Entity (IRCE) for GO TEC in GO Virginia Region 5, which includes Hampton Roads. The University is working with staff from Danville’s Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) to build the infrastructure and administrative capacity to support middle school Career Connections labs and teachers at selected schools in Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, and Norfolk.
The Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab in Newport News houses the GO TEC Demonstration Lab. Our Demo Lab trains educators and serves as a demonstration site for school districts and other interested workforce and businesses.
“Reaching students in the middle school years enables us to spark an interest in career and technical career pathways.”
Karen Sanzo, professor of educational leadership and graduate program director for the educational leadership services program at ODU’s Darden College of Education and Professional Studies, is the local In-Region coordinator.
“We are thrilled about the opportunity to help expand the GO TEC program in our local public school systems,” Sanzo said. “This will enhance the skills of our region’s young, emerging workforce and prepare them to step into technical and engineering jobs throughout the Hampton Roads area.”
GO TEC delivers workforce training and talent development through a collaborative, hub-and-spoke model that involves K-12 school systems, higher education, economic development professionals, and industry. Starting in middle school Career Connections labs and continuing through high school, dual-enrollment, and post-secondary programs, GO TEC engages students in hands-on learning in high-demand career pathways such as precision machining, welding, IT and cybersecurity, robotics and automation, mechatronics and advanced materials.
“Reaching students in the middle school years enables us to spark an interest in career and technical career pathways.”
Summer Camps
The iLab offers a variety of engaging and educational summer camps, completely free and open to all students in the area. Learn about the camps.