Texarkana ISD Rolls Out Mobile STEM Lab to Inspire Future Innovators
With the ribbon now cut, elementary school students can now expect visits to their campuses from Texarkana ISD’s new mobile STEM lab.
The lab, housed in an RV sporting the orange and black Texarkana ISD colors, displays bold lettering reading “MOBILE CTE & STEM LAB.”
At the lab’s launch, students explored a variety of activities, including outdoor rocket launches, battery-powered cars, and immersive experiences using the virtual reality/augmented reality software, zSpace.
Sara Salama, the Mobile STEM Lab coordinator at Texarkana ISD, is responsible for working with principals to schedule campus visits and ensuring that activities align with the current Science TEKS. She also works to develop activities that are both fun and engaging.
“We’ve had positive feedback overall from students and teachers,” Salama said. “We’ve had students asking if they could give up their recess to spend more time in the mobile STEM lab.”
For Salama, STEM always came second nature.
“I think I’ve always just been a STEM kid,” Salama said. “I don’t know when this developed, but I’ve always been a math and science student. What I really appreciate about this role is being able to expose students to STEM in a way that that they might not have had access to otherwise and seeing them making that connection. Even if they don’t pursue a career in STEM, it still develops critical thinking and communication skills and teaches them to collaborate.”
Mindy Gennings, formerly the principal at Wake Village Elementary School, began her role as the Director of College and Career Readiness in July 2024. Gennings explained that the idea for a mobile STEM lab had been in the works for several years.
Texarkana ISD already had a strong STEM background, and converting a bookmobile into a full-fledged mobile STEM lab—complete with all the technologies and accessories needed—should help extend STEM opportunities to as many students as possible.
Creating and maintaining the lab requires extensive collaboration across departments, including technology, transportation, and maintenance. The mobile STEM lab also requires a specially licensed driver.
“We definitely could not have made this work if it was not a combined effort,” Gennings said.
In its first year, the mobile STEM lab will serve fifth grade students. Gennings said that next year, the goal is to expand access to fourth grade students, and eventually to all elementary grades K-5.
One of the lab’s main objectives is to ensure the experience is highly engaging for students.
“We wanted it to be innovative,” Gennings said. “We wanted it to be hands on. We know we wanted it to encompass science and math, but we also want to make it enjoyable for the kids.
“We want to have different stations for science, technology, engineering, and math,” Salama added. “There’s also a maker space where every unit includes a career connection so students can see how these concepts relate to real-world jobs. We’re sparking their interest at this young age and helping them imagine what they might want to pursue later in life.”
Salama is already developing new additions to the lab, including projects with Makey Makey technology. The idea is to turn common household items—such as Play-Doh, fruit, pennies, and paper clips—into working circuits and video game controllers.
For Gennings, a personal connection ignited her passion for STEM education.
“What truly sparked my interest was my son,” she said. “He attended Morris Elementary here in Texarkana ISD and was deeply engaged in STEM activities in school. That experience carried through middle and high school, and now he is in college for engineering. Seeing what STEM did for him made me more interested in it and want that same opportunity for every student.”
Texarkana ISD’s mobile STEM lab will begin visiting campuses during the 2025-26 school year. Salama joked that students preferred spending time in the lab over recess, so the lab is sure to be a hit wherever it goes.
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