Group items tagged

"I want to start a makerspace. Where do I begin? Ask any experienced maker educator this question, and you'll get a variation of the same response - it depends."

"Figuring out how to get (and keep) your makerspace organized can be a daunting task.  I don't claim to have a magical organization system that works perfectly 100% of the time.  But I have learned a few things about keeping our space organized over the last three years.  Here's my advice:"

"hroughout my blog I have spoken about materials available in our space to stimulate making in the Makerspace. Sometimes the making and creating comes from literature, other times from KLA's and many times from challenges and interests of the students. We provide a wide range of craft materials as well as technology. I thought I'd explain what we have available, the suppliers I have found to be very helpful and inspirational sites and people."

A great MakerSpace board on Pinterest. Loads of ideas, resources and projects.

"The Maker Movement in schools is exploding.  It's exciting to see so many schools starting makerspaces and offering students opportunities to express their creativity.  But with this explosion also comes the desire to focus too much on the STUFF and not on the EXPERIENCE."

"Four experienced "makers" and K-12 educators dish their top tools and advice to build a meaningful classroom makerspace from the ground up. "

"More and more makerspaces around the world are looking to add coding and electronics to their maker education programs.  One of the best ways to do this is by integrating an Arduino board into makerspace projects and lessons. We've found that a lot of maker educators haven't taken the plunge into coding or Arduino because they think programming is scary.  Because of this, we wanted to make sure this tutorial was written for the absolute beginner with no experience whatsoever. This tutorial is a high level view of all the parts and pieces of the Arduino ecosystem.  In future posts, we will take you step by step in creating your first simple Arduino project."

"I love the idea of making, inventing and tinkering. Just watch kids who are immersed in the activities and you can see the engagement. But is the learning authentic and relevant? I presented three sessions at the Free Maker Movement event at One Work Place on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 with some amazing educators who presented hands-on activities. The event will took place at our Oakland Center for Active Learning . I decided I needed to spend some time researching where the Maker Movement was happening and find examples of authentic learning. This gave me the opportunity to talk to several of my friends and share how they have transformed learning spaces to Makerspaces. Everyone I talked to made a point that it is about creativity not consumption. Yet when I went to different Maker events, I saw activities that an adult set up, purchased a kit or provided directions for activities. They were all fun, but I was having trouble seeing the connections to real learning or any ownership from kids."

"Makerspaces, sometimes also referred to as hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. In libraries they often have 3D printers, software, electronics, craft and hardware supplies and tools, and more"

"As Kristin Berbawy packed projects into her car, she lingered over one in particular. Two 3D-printed Makerbots with wire hooks-a pair of earrings. They matched the white braces on her teeth and the white strands in her hair. Her students had made them-as they had all the projects in her car-in their high school makerspace. She was proud of them. She was going to display their work to other teachers. Smack in the middle of AP exams, a growing group of teachers is pouring time, creativity and energy into activities for which there are no standardized tests: makerspaces. The movement is avowedly grassroots and candidly quirky, and its main gathering is the Maker Educator Convening in Oakland, CA, where Kristin Berbawy was headed with a trunkload of laser cut wood and 3D printed objects. "

"Our 5th grade is currently studying the impact on American life that several famous inventors had. When I was brainstorming with Shelley Olin, 5th grade social studies teacher, we began to wonder about connections these standards had to makerspace.  It started as an idea seed and grew into a set of experiences for all 5th graders to engage in. I wanted students to put themselves into the shoes of an inventor so that they could begin to understand the perseverance and curiosity that inventors have. We focused on 3 of the inventors: Thomas Edison (electricity), Alexander Graham Bell (communication), and the Wright Brothers (flight)."

"Care. Think. Design. Act. These words are the first thing that people see when entering Digital Shop, our middle school makerspace. This mantra anchors the threshold experience, a visitor's first visual impression of the space. But what do the words really mean, individually and collectively? Why those words, in that order? And how do they resonate with our learners and with my colleagues in regard to their impressions of the program?"

"School libraries are starting makerspaces all over the world. It's an exciting time in education as we rediscover the power of creativity. But many schools rush to start makerspaces so quickly that they neglect building the maker culture. Developing a maker culture is a lot like developing a love of reading, it takes time and persistence and it's totally worth it. Here's a few ways that you can work to cultivate a love of making and creativity in your students."

"As the Maker Movement has gained steams schools and educators alike have begun to incorporate makerspaces as exploratory centers for students to invent, tinker, create, and make to learn. A makerspace can best be defined as a physical place where students can create real-world products/projects using real-world tools. "

Our guest literally wrote the playbook on starting and running a MakerSpace. In this segment he shares some inside tips. Follow: @dalepd @travislape @nmhs_lms @bamradionetwork

" Wondering about makerspaces and what it takes to set one up? If so, this is the segment for you. Tune in to learn the ABCs of what is required to get started. "

The entire concept is really quite simple.  The Mobile MakerSpace carts that line the hallway leading into our Media Center are capable of transporting new opportunities and tools to virtually any space in our school.  Whether it's high-tech 3D printing and modular robotics or low-tech knitting and plastic construction blocks…the carts contain tools that elicit collaboration and unleash student creativity."

"As you can see, our Maker Mondays is loosely based on the concepts inspired by the Cincinnati Public Library's MakerSpace. We had already purchased the Little Bits and Legos. The Ellison and Accucut dies were also something we had on hand (and taking them from the top floor to the basement for our Maker Mondays only took 3 trips). Inpsired by CPL, we did purchase a couple of American Button Machines, which I blogged about here. Our goal is to eventually add in a few additional items so that we can rotates some of the various features. So here's some of what we learned in researching and setting up our first Maker Monday:"

"Maker education (often referred to as "Maker Ed") is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom. A makerspace isn't just about the tools and equipment, but the sort of learning experience the space provides to students who are making projects. Maker Ed places a premium on the balance between exploration and execution. Small projects lend themselves to indefinite tinkering and fiddling, while larger projects need complex, coordinated planning. Often, small projects can organically grow into larger and larger projects. This deliberate process strengthens and enriches a learner's executive functioning skills. Additionally, communication and collaboration are two of Maker Ed's fundamental values. Making allows learners to practice their social communication skills in a variety of groupings, whether affinity-based, role-specific or teacher-assigned. It's important for all different groups to be present in student learning spaces so that all students can practice their social skills in multiple settings. Lastly, Making presents unique opportunities to generate flow learning and allow the teacher to leverage high-interest projects and activities and turn them into learning objectives within a curriculum. Maker education provides space for real-life collaboration, integration across multiple disciplines, and iteration-the opportunity to fail, rework a project and find success. The benefits of a cooperative learning environment are well documented in a makerspace. If you are wondering how to connect these projects back to the Common Core Standards, check out PBL Through a Maker's Lens and Woodshop Cowboy."