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Students need to have the opportunity to explore, build and discover in a makerspace. This allows us to move beyond one-size fits all projects into a personalized constructivist approach to...

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Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with criticism. I was told (not to my face) by a visitor to our school that our library makerspace is not a "real makerspace". This same person stated that our woodshop is a "real makerspace" because it has power tools. She suggested that I "do some research" on what makerspaces actually are.

Feeling personally insulted aside, what bothers me most about this statement is the concept that some makerspaces are more valid than others and that a makerspace is solely defined by the tools it contains. I do agree that our woodshop is a makerspace, even though we don't call it that. Our woodshop is awesome, and I'm so glad that we have a space where students can learn how to use saws, drills and other tools to build awesome projects as part of their curriculum. Yes, that is a makerspace.

But is my space any less of a makerspace simply because it doesn't have power tools? Because it doesn't have a 3D printer? Because my students build with LEGOs, K'nex and cardboard?

Defining Makerspaces

All of this got me thinking about how we define "makerspace". So I did what librarians do best: I researched. I gathered together my books on makerspaces, I searched our databases for articles, and I crowdsourced the amazing hive mind of Twitter.

For the record, here's my own definition of a school Makerspace:

A makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools and materials.

A makerspace can be anything from a repurposed bookcart filled with arts and crafts supplies to a table in a corner set out with LEGOs to a full blown fab lab with 3D printers, laser cutters, and handtools. No two school makerspaces are exactly alike, nor should they be. Makerspaces are as unique as the school cultures they represent. There is no such thing as one form of making being more valid or better than the other. Makers are artists, crafters, knitters, seamstresses, builders, programmers, engineers, hackers, painters, woodworkers, tinkerers, inventors, bakers, graphic designers and more.

A #makerspace is a place where kids gather to create, invent, tinker, explore & discover. Click To Tweet

What the Research Says About Makerspaces

Here's where my research led me:

I like this definition from Samatha Roslund's book Makerspaces. I see three important elements to this definition: Place... people... make things. While different possible foci are mentioned, this definition does not limit a Makerspace to a particular set of tools. It's about a place, about a community. Another similar quote comes from the Educause Learning Initiative article, 7 Things You Should Know About Makerspaces:

"A makerspace is a physical location where people gather to share resources and knowledge, work on projects, network, and build."

Makerspaces are not about the tools; they're about enabling making.

More on Makerspaces

"... [A] space where kids have the opportunity to make - a place where some tools, materials, and enough expertise can get them started. These places, called makerspaces, share some aspects of the shop class, home economics class, the art studio and science labs. In effect, a makerspace is a physical mash-up of different places that allows makers and projects to integrate these different kinds of skills." Dale Dougherty, The Maker Mindset, in Design, Make, Play

"Even if you don't have access to expensive... hardware, every classroom can become a makerspace where kids and teachers learn together through direct experience with an assortment of high and low tech materials." ~ Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez in Invent to Learn

"A Makerspace is a metaphor for a unique learning environment that encourages tinkering, play and open-ended exploration for all" ~Laura Fleming, author of Worlds of Making

Making, Creativity, and Design

"What do you do in a makerspace? The simple answer is you make things. Things that you are curious about. Things that spring from your imagination... that inspire you and things that you admire. The informal, playful atmosphere allows learning to unfold, rather than conform to a rigid agenda. Making, rather than consuming is the focus. It is craft, engineering, technology and wonder-driven." Thinkers and Tinkerers

"The most important quality of a makerspace is that it encourages creativity. This can be done with a space full of hand tools, materials, and finished projects. The culture in a space should support the idea that anything is possible." 3 Key Qualities for a School Makerspace

"Makerspaces provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering." Jennifer Cooper, Designing a School Makerspace (Edutopia)

"Makerspaces are collaborative learning environments where people come together to share materials and learn new skills... [they] are not necessarily born out of a specific set of materials or spaces, but rather a mindset of community partnership, collaboration, and creation." Library as incubator project

(Emphasis in quotes is mine)

The video above is really long by internet standards. But you should at least watch the first few minutes, where students share what their makerspace means to them.

Read up more on Makerspaces

(Note: post contains affiliate links. Actions taken may result in commissions for Renovated Learning)

Diana Rendina, MLIS, is the media specialist at Tampa Preparatory School, an independent 6-12 in Tampa, FL. Previously, she was the media specialist at Stewart Middle Magnet School for seven years, where she founded their library makerspace. She is the creator of the blog RenovatedLearning.com. She was a monthly contributor to AASL Knowledge Quest from 2015-2018. Diana is the winner of the 2016 ISTE Outstanding Young Educator Award, the 2015 ISTE Librarians Network Secondary Award, the 2015 AASL Frances Henne Award & the 2015 SLJ Build Something Bold Award. She is an international speaker on the Maker Movement and has presented at conferences including AASL, FETC & ISTE. Diana co-authored Challenge-Based Learning in the School Library Makerspace with Colleen and Aaron Graves and is also the author Reimagining Library Spaces: Transform Your Space on Any Budget.

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Defining Makerspaces: What the Research Says

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Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with criticism. I was told (not to my face) by a visitor to our school that our library makerspace is not a "real makerspace". This same person stated that our woodshop is a "real makerspace" because it has power tools.

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Despite the popularity and trend of the term " makerspace ", educators have to search hundreds of articles, websites and books to determine what this term is, how to begin, where to locate...

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Skip to content We are a centre of expertise for a range of innovation methods across multiple sectors. See our innovation methods We have developed a network of units within Nesta to act as centres of expertise for particular innovation methods, such as challenge prizes.

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What is a Makerspace? Is it a Hackerspace or a Makerspace?

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A makerspace is a collaborative work space inside a school, library or public/private facility for making, learning, exploring and sharing. Maker Education

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Kylie Peppler, Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, Yasmin B. Kafai

Routledge, 20 May 2016

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Makeology introduces the emerging landscape of the Maker Movement and its connection to interest-driven learning. While the movement is fueled in part by new tools, technologies, and online communities available to today's makers, its simultaneous emphasis on engaging the world through design and sharing with others harkens back to early educational predecessors including Froebel, Dewey, Montessori, and Papert.

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Makeology: Makerspaces as Learning Environments, Volume 1

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Makeology: Makerspaces as Learning Environments, Volume 1

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Kylie Peppler, Erica Halverson, Yasmin B. Kafai

Routledge, 20 May 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Makeology introduces the emerging landscape of the Maker Movement and its connection to interest-driven learning. While the movement is fueled in part by new tools, technologies, and online communities available to today's makers, its simultaneous emphasis on engaging the world through design and sharing with others harkens back to early educational predecessors including Froebel, Dewey, Montessori, and Papert.

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by Liz Jones (Learning Lizard)

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Looking back a few years, I'm sure that I could not have foreseen my classroom over the last few weeks.

My key question at the end of the process came from a colleague.

So here's the back story.

Our Year 4 classes have become populated with town planners and designers.

This culminated two weeks ago with 3D printing.

'I've never done this before,' I explained to the first group but within a week I'd had a lot more experience.

Their project was stimulated by a kit from @kidesign which leads step by step through the stages of planning a city and the vital buildings and services that the children choose.
There's a lot of Geography
We discussed and justified our choices. So we need a supermarket more than green house?

What other structure can be found with policing? No one suggested government.

We eventually decided money came from somewhere and that a bank could be useful.
Where shall we live?

Designing a house is a funny business. Many seemed to be very iconic until we discussed other options like roof gardens and swimming pools. Were we copying houses or reinventing them?

2D and 3D Design process

We reasearched buildings and their uses. Abundant dramatic images fueled everyone's imagination. It got very exciting.

Working with 3D was very hard. Trying to line things up in 2D only to find with a quick rotation that the piece just added was hovering in mid air far beyond the blended base.

Trying and failing got quite familiar habits.
The printer arrived....
amidst great excitement, Teacher anxiety levels rose, this was the big moment.

It worked!
And now for the big question? Why?
Why do we use 3D printing. For the children it was exciting and different. But when we discussed it we came up with some useful ideas.

"It helps to test ideas"

"It's a cheap way to model something."

But I dug deeper. 3D is revolutionizing manufacturing. Where a room full of engineering machines, each with one job and potentially one operator, each do one process in an object, now a 3D printer can create all the parts. It takes less space, different skills and is more accessible. 3D is being used to make buildings, food and prosthetic limbs.

For the children holding something they made that is totally unique and their own design was special.

Today we photographed the buildings in real settings so that they came to life.

Now we know why.

Is there a new technological process you've explored? Was it risky?or fulfilling? Did the frustrations come good in the end?

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Looking back a few years, I'm sure that I could not have foreseen my classroom over the last few weeks. My key question at the end of the process came from a colleague. Why? So here's the back story. Our Year 4 classes have become populated with town planners and designers.