UL Research Institutes’ Office of Research Experiences & Education and leaders of Cobb’s Safety Village broke ground on the ULRI Interactive Classroom at the Cobb County Safety Village. This classroom will teach local middle and high school students about real-world safety phenomena, including fire dynamics, forensics, fire safety, thermal runaway, and lithium-ion battery recycling.

As one of only 23 safety villages in the U.S. and the only one in Georgia, Cobb’s Safety Village is an 8-acre facility designed to educate participants on how to respond to dangerous situations. It features scale models of a real community for teaching purposes.

The new ULRI Interactive Classroom will provide safety science education through Xplorlabs.org, a free educational platform that aligns with Next Generation Science Standards. 

Since 2018, this platform has been integrated into STEM classrooms in metro Atlanta in collaboration with fire departments and school districts, including Cobb County School District and Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services.

“The Cobb County Safety Village Foundation and UL Research Institutes’ Office of Research Experiences & Education share a belief that education is key to reducing risk and protecting communities,” said Allison Carter, director of the Cobb County Safety Village. “By bringing the ULRI Interactive Classroom and Xplorlabs to our Safety Village, we’ll be able to expand our educational efforts beyond elementary students to middle and high school ages.”

The classroom is expected to open in 2025.

Follow this link for more information about the interactive classroom.

About the Cobb Safety Village

According to a history of the Cobb County Saftey Village posted on the Cobb County website:

The mission of the Cobb County Safety Village is to provide the highest quality safety education and training available.  This effort will enable our citizens to help and protect themselves and others from accidental death, injury, and destruction of property. The vision is a sustainable Cobb County Safety Village that builds a safer community through advocacy and education.

The roots of the Safety Village go back to 1978 with the formation of the Public Fire and Life Safety Education division, formed under the direction of Cobb County Fire Department. 

While the division was researching education models in 1998, it became aware of a Canadian model of bringing all safety education, not just fire safety, under one roof.

In 2007, the The Safety Village Foundation, Inc. was formed as a non-profit 501(c)3.