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 Westford Public Schools’ Living Lab, located at the Norman E. Day School, is a facility designed to enable Grade 1-5 students within the Westford Public Schools to act as scientists as they explore their natural world using developmentally appropriate tools, materials, and technology. The Living Lab was developed and is directed by Carol
Shestok, K-5 Science Coordinator. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and Presidential Awardee in Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The Living Lab is a central science location for all schools in Westford Public Schools. Included in this facility is a dedicated indoor lab, outdoor classroom, outdoor catwalk to a deck overlooking a brook habitat, and a rain garden. Through hands-on, minds-on, inquiry-based pedagogy, students design scientific investigations at the Reed Brook, where all domains of science come to life.
The Living Lab goals are in tandem with the mission of the Westford Public Schools, which seeks to provide an excellent, free education to all students in the community; to engage its students in a challenging learning environment to prepare them for the political, economic, social, and technological challenges of a rapidly changing world; and to develop in its students the skills and attitudes that will enable them to be lifelong learners, exercise sound judgment and become responsible, contributing members of society.
At the Living Lab, students, at each grade level, explore their world through integrated themes directly related to the science and fine arts units studied in their classrooms. Students learn from real scientists in the field, female and male, as seismologists, microbiologists, entomologists, engineers, and environmental scientists join Carol Shestok in teaching at the Living.
The themes include:
Grade 1: Blowing in the Wind, an integral part of their Weather unit;
Grade 2: Quilting Bee; an integral part of their Life Cycle of the Butterfly and Frog unit;
Grade 3: Rock Concert, an integral part of their Plant Growth and Development and Rocks and Minerals units;
Grade 4: Shake Rattle and Roll, an integral part of their Land and Water unit;
Grade 5: Brook Book, an integral part of their Ecosystems and Animal Studies units. As scientists in the field share their knowledge and projects with the public, so do the Westford student scientists and artists showcase their work with the public at Living Lab Galas, held at the end of each school year.
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