‘Curiosity Cube’ makes stop at Shenandoah Valley
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Shenandoah Valley Elementary students visit the Curiosity Cube on May 28, 2025.
SHENANDOAH – A mobile science lab came to the Heart of the Anthracite this week as part of an effort to spark curiosity, organizers said, in STEM fields.
Wednesday morning, fourth graders at Shenandoah Valley Elementary rotated through the “Curiosity Cube,” an effort of MilliporeSigma, a sister company to EMD Electronics. Employees from the EMD plant near Hometown volunteered at various stations within the cube.
“We’re super happy to be here at Shenandoah Valley to share our love of science with the kids, especially at the end of the school year, it’s such a fun time of year,” Natalie Randolph, a Curiosity Cube Coordinator with MilliporeSigma, told the Sentinel. “We’re here to hopefully spark their curiosity and get them excited about STEM. All of the folks out here volunteering with the cube today are EMD Electronics employees donating their time and giving back to their communities where we all live and work.”
The cube is a retrofitted shipping container converted into a mobile science lab. Inside, volunteers staffed stations teaching the elementary schoolers primarily focused on artificial intelligence.
“The kids get to do three hands-on experiments about different areas of AI,” Randolph said.
At one station, students had hands-on experience with a self-driving RC car. Using a whiteboard and a marker, students were able to draw the “road” for the car to follow.
Impressively, one student drew a route with plenty of 90-degree turns, and the car followed the path on a dime.
In another, students guessed whether an image was real or created by generative AI.
“The kids get to learn about the difference and then learn to hopefully be good consumers of the content that they’re going to see on the internet, recognizing the difference between real human content and AI-generated content,” Randolph added.
The Curiosity Cube remains local Thursday as it visits North Schuylkill Elementary near Fountain Springs.
According to the Curiosity Cube’s website, the cube is currently on a tour of North America. It will be set up at a concert at Grange Park near Trexlertown Saturday.
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