UL Research Institutes Celebrates Opening of its First Immersive Classroom
UL Research Institutes’ Institute for Research Experiences & Education celebrated the opening of its first immersive classroom at the Cobb County Safety Village with a ribbon cutting event this week in Marietta, Georgia.
This week, the ULRI Immersive Classroom officially opened with a ribbon cutting event to celebrate the first permanent space designed to bring safety science education to students of all ages.
Located at the Cobb County Safety Village in Marietta, Georgia, the event brought together leaders from ULRI, Cobb County Safety Village, as well as members of the community to celebrate years of collaboration and educational innovation. The Cobb County Safety Village, which is one of only 27 safety villages in the U.S., provides hands-on, community-based learning for families and students. The campus is built to resemble a small town with streets, sidewalks, railroad crossings, and reduced-scale buildings to help students learn about pedestrian and bicycle safety, fire and water safety, car seat safety, and more.
The new classroom will feature exploration of real-world safety science phenomena from Xplorlabs — inviting local educators and students to take part in interactive and immersive experiences and hands-on investigations tied to Xplorlabs’ four pathways. The classroom also includes a fire sprinkler prop that was created in partnership with the National Fire Sprinkler Association to help students understand how fire sprinklers and other fire-safety systems work.
During the ribbon cutting event, President and CEO of ULRI, Jim Hudgens, Ph.D., recognized the many years of partnership between the Institute for Research Experiences & Education and the Cobb County Safety Village that led to the ULRI Immersive Classroom.
“This building marks the first ULRI immersive experience in the country,” Hudgens said. “It is also the first permanent physical space featuring ULRI’s Xplorlabs and Standards Academy education platforms.”
Kelly Keena, Ph.D., vice president and executive director of the Institute for Research Experiences & Education, said this moment embodied the power of immersive learning and community partnership.
“This classroom represents the moment Xplorlabs truly moved out of the computer and into communities,” Keena said. “Right here at the Safety Village in Cobb County is where we built our first community partnerships between school districts and fire departments. Since that first collaboration in 2018, Xplorlabs has been integrated into STEM classrooms across four school districts in metro Atlanta.”
Allison Carter, director of the Cobb County Safety Village, said the mission and vision of the Safety Village and the Institute for Research Experiences & Education have been aligned from day one and this classroom will help both organizations continue growing their impact.
“At the Safety Village, we work with 22,000 second and fourth graders each year to help them understand the safety risks around them,” said Carter. “No, this new classroom will help us bridge the gap to middle and high schoolers in our area.”
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