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What makes it an academic makerspace rather than an adult space, Jarowski said, is that it motivates children to discover new skills and knowledge.

Involve students in every step of the planning,"

You must make decisions about its scope.

Safety is important, too, so you must also budget for goggles, gloves, aprons, lab coats and a fire extinguisher.

Part of planning will be deciding which tools to support.

"Also, an area to display student projects is important," he said. It helps the students develop a sense of pride.

Setup: Jarowski said many people ask if a makerspace is a classroom or a workshop. His answer is that it should be both, or a synthesis of the two. But he said several considerations should go into the physical setup. You should have both high-tech and low-tech areas, and clean and messy areas, with separate workstations for different types of activities. Don't carpet the space because carpet is hard to clean, he said. Make sure you include whiteboards so students can work on problems together.

It is important to showcase student projects, prototypes and designs, he said. Keep cameras around to document their efforts and include them in the social media and blog of the school.

Engagement (student involvement in instruction) can be described in a variety of ways. I think too often engagement is exclusively predefined by educators as “hands on”, “students doing more talking than the teacher”, or “active”. These descriptors may all be key indicators of engagement. But the definition should not stop there.