The faint smell of burning solder hung in the air as a group of 10 fourth-graders giggled and tinkered with soldering guns, wires and LED bulbs in a workshop. Jonas Marijosius, 9, gushed to his friend as he fused together two wires to make the light bulb turn on: “Dude, look at how good this soldering is!”

The students were creating products for their family and friends using LED lights in Seven Peaks School’s Design & Innovation Lab, but the lessons in this specialized class go deeper.

The lab, which opened in fall 2017 thanks to a $100,000 fundraising effort, teaches Seven Peaks students hands-on skills in circuitry, woodworking, sewing, 3D printing and more. Kayla Collins, the design and innovation coordinator who oversees the lab, said the projects students work on are often a culmination of material they’ve studied in their traditional classes. For example, the fourth-graders making light fixtures were learning about energy and how it’s used to help people.

Many of the students were creating lamps and reading lights to help their parents or family members read or make doing other tasks easier. Some, like Aiden Woods, 10, opted for out-of-the-box projects. He said he was cutting a tennis ball in half and drilling little holes for LED lights so he could play fetch with his dog at night.

Nina Taft, 9, was also working on a pet-related project — she was wiring lights to a dog collar so her dog could see while being walked in the dark.

Working with their hands and problem-solving are skills the students will use for the rest of their life, said Weylin Noldner, the assistant design and innovation teacher.

“Whether they become somebody working in the trades or not is beside the point,” he said. “To be able to have the confidence to just try things, they’re going to take a little bit of all this stuff everywhere they go.”

Not only does the Design Lab teach kids handiwork skills, but it also shows students how to consider the needs of others and practice empathy when problem-solving, Collins said.

“We always say it’s not about the product, it’s about the user,” she said. “You realize that you’re not coming into the design lab to create something for fun to take home, but that it’s actually meaningful to somebody else, and the focus is not on yourself.”

Gala Gaines, a fourth-grade teacher at Seven Peaks, agreed, adding that kids love helping their family and friends.

“Having them make (the projects) for someone else and giving it to them is always the best part,” she said. “When they deliver it and see their mom or dad using the project, they feel so excited and good about themselves.”

Some of the students said they liked making someone else’s life easier with their projects.

“I like being creative and having different ideas, because there’s a lot of things that you can help people with, and I like helping people,” said Dalila Powderly, 10.

Dalila’s mom, Michael Powderly, volunteers in the class and called the lab “an incredible addition to the school.”

“Just going through an entire design cycle and then coming up with the inception of an idea, having to try things out, failures, successes, creativity, using their hands … there are a lot of things about the design (process) that I think is good for them,” she said.

According to Collins, Seven Peaks’ middle school students visit the Design Lab once a week, while prekindergarten through fifth-grade students visits depend on when they complete a unit.

Gaines said the school’s teachers meet with Collins once a week to discuss how to fit design projects into their lesson plans. Often, the teachers are learning these skills alongside their students, she said.

“I had no idea how to solder until last year, when we opened the Design Lab,” she said, laughing. “Pretty much all these tools, I had no idea how to use.”

Even though the program is only in its second year, Seven Peaks’ teachers are already calling it a success — and the kids, who were buzzing with excitement while making their projects, seemed to be enjoying themselves, too.

“I like, about the projects, everything,” said Joseph Wick, 10. “It’s challenging, it’s eventful, and it’s really fun.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7854, jhogan@bendbulletin.com