ALISO VIEJO : New Middle School to Get ‘SmartLab’

When Aliso Viejo Middle School opens this fall, students will not only find a cutting-edge information network in their classrooms, but a campus lab designed to spark their interest in science and technology as a career.

In the facility, known as “SmartLab 2000,” students will be able to use such tools as a wind tunnel to learn about aerodynamics, a model of the Grand Canyon to show how erosion works or a computer program to learn how to fly a plane.

Computer-managed lab networks will also give students access to such subjects as robotics, satellite technology, manufacturing, rocketry, superconductivity, hydroponics and desktop publishing.

The Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees recently approved spending about $155,000 to install the lab, produced by San Diego-based Creative Learning Systems. The cost also includes training for lab teachers.

In addition to becoming literate in technology, educators say students will learn how to work in groups, seek consensus and solve problems.

Students “will know so much more of where their career,” said Trustee Sheila J. Benecke. “It’s fabulous. I can’t begin to imagine the impact and growth this could bring, not only to our middle schools, but all our schools.”

Aliso Viejo Middle School, which is to open in October, will be the first in Orange County to have a “SmartLab 2000.”

The new middle school will also have a modern information network that will link classrooms to a central lab containing computers and laser disk players.