Virginia Tech.-backed lab inspires Fairfax Co. elementary school students to build the future

A new lab, which opened at Bucknell Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, is giving Fairfax County elementary school students a shot at engineering and computer programming.

And the results are as imaginative as they are innovative.

The Thinkabit Lab designs and builds prototypes for environmentally friendly inhalers, pet-washing machines, glasses with digital dashboards that monitor activity and soccer ball shooting robots. And the engineers behind this broad range of contraptions haven’t yet graduated the 5th grade.

When students arrive at the Virginia Tech-partnered lab, they often show a mix of excitement and apprehension. But about an hour later, many of them will go from little to n

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