From the outside it looks like a simple shipping container. Inside, the Curiosity Cube is a high-tech lab where Boston students run experiments and talk with working scientists.
On this visit, lessons centered on artificial intelligence. Students tried to spot AI-generated images, played a pattern-matching game that shows how computers learn, and drew roads for a small robot car to follow.
“I actually love science, it feels like being in a space box, learning by yourself but with other people helping you,” said Salma, a student at Boston’s Ohrenberger School, who took part.
What is the Curiosity Cube?
Teachers said the difference is the hands-on experience. Meredith McKenna watched her class light up as they drew pathways and tested ideas in real time.
“They’re going to remember this, how the AI cars drove just because they drew them. [That spark of curiosity] is why we teach,” McKenna said. “To actually see their brains at work, no limitations, no rules, no ‘this is how you’re going to do this.’ They don’t need a model for anything like this. When kids get to see and touch science, it sticks with them in a way a worksheet never could.”
The Curiosity Cube in Boston.
CBS Boston
The Curiosity Cube is coordinated by MilliporeSigma and staffed by scientists who bring the lab to schools and community events for free.
“Our goal is to take the science experiments to the students so that we can spark their curiosity,” said Curiosity Cube coordinator Haya Abdelkarim. “Hands-on learning is so important because students retain the information better. When they actually experience it and touch it and do the experiment, it helps them understand it and helps them remember it.”
Sparking curiosity in STEM
“We want to spark curiosity, we want those kids to fill up those science roles, especially with girls,” said Abdelkarim.
Salma put it simply.
“Women can do it if they want. Because I feel like more girls are doing science experiments. And it wouldn’t be fair if only men would do it. So I feel like they should be equal,” she said.
For some students, a morning in the Cube becomes a path to a future career.
“I want to be a doctor for kids with cancer. I want to help when I grow up,” Salma said.
For more information on the Cube, click here.
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