Field trip: Slide rule

Students step into the role of engineers from the pre-digital era, building their own functional slide rule — the analog computer that powered decades of innovation before calculators. Working from laser-cut acrylic parts, they assemble and personalize their slide rule while learning the math behind logarithmic scales and how to use them for multiplication and division. This hands-on project blends history, precision fabrication, and mathematical reasoning, with TEKS-aligned versions for upper elementary, middle, and high school. Every student leaves with a finished tool, a paper version for classroom replication, and the confidence to use both.

 The Austin STEM Center (ASC) is a central hub for hands-on STEM learning in the Austin community. We support FIRST Robotics teams, provide a facility for pre-workforce development, host community-led classes, and is home to Austin School for the Driven. Our classrooms and maker spaces are tools to bring people together to learn, build, and share knowledge. ASC is not a school — it’s a community resource designed to support and amplify STEM education.