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Some makerspace components are so commonly known that I can even use them to explain my job to non-educators:

"I'm our makerspace coordinator. You know, the person who supports the kids with 3D printing and basic electronics and stuff like that."

Then they know exactly what I mean. (I can tell because they respond with "Wow! That sounds like the best job ever!" They're right!)

Educators planning makerspaces know they can start small with simple circuitry materials, cardboard and hot glue guns. Or they can go bigger with soldering capabilities and power drills. Or they can go to the bigg est with 3D printers and laser cutters.

For makerspaces incorporating digital technology, a green screen and an iPad with green screen apps are no-brainers, whether they go for a green bedsheet or a fancy installation. Whiteboard tables are widely known to be hot, as well as clear bins and neutral organization, pegboard and labels, craft sticks and straws and velcro tape.

The level of sophistication/extravagance of the space will vary enormously depending on each institution's choices and funding ($20K Epilog or $5K Glowforge or no laser cutter?), but there were a few surprises as we developed our space, noticing or finding unexpectedly critical makerspace components that have made our space more successful.

Here are our top 10 unexpectedly critical makerspace components, clickbait countdown style!

10) Materials From Home: Cereal Boxes

You probably already know that you need packing boxes. Hefty corrugated cardboard is like gold in a makerspace, but lightweight cereal box cardboard is even better for many applications.

Cereal box cardboard is nice and stiff, but still easy to cut with basic scissors. It also cuts and engraves beautifully in the laser cutter. Boxes that are white cardboard on the inside are particularly prized. Families at our school responded in droves to my call for their empty cereal boxes, and with a bit of training-don't fold up and bend the cardboard to make it "easier" to store, don't bother with boxes that have cut-outs-we've build up a significant supply of cardboard that kids can pillage as needed.

9) Materials From Home: Corks

Corks are a popular material in general crafting circles. Probably everyone has seen a Pinterest picture of a home corkboard made from actual corks. I included corks in my all-call for materials from families thinking they would just be handy to have around, but I've been astonished at how heavily the kids use them for their various building projects: columns for Greek temples, bodies and heads for oxen pulling Oregon Trail wagons, backings for pins sticking through posters, etc. I've had to issue a second all-call for corks to replenish our supply from the beginning of the year, and luckily many families had gotten into the habit of saving their corks!

Of course, there are dozens of other materials that are valuable to have families bring from home: toilet paper and paper towel rolls, egg cartons, shoeboxes and plenty more. Cereal boxes and corks have been our biggest surprises, and so our biggest needs!

"Craft Cutter" is such an absurd and generic name for these scissors. At some point, I said to a kiddo, "Grab those big blue-handled huge scissors...the monster scissors!" and the name stuck. With a very heavy-duty blade and a built-in protractor to check your cutting angles, these scissors snap right through craft sticks, skewers, chopsticks and our beloved corks. They have a safety latch and are easy for upper-elementary kids and above to use.

Like the Monster Scissors, these cutters prove that even your basic titanium scissors are NOT all-purpose tools-sometimes a different cutting tool is needed. The electric cardboard cutters make incredible fast work of deconstructing corrugated cardboard boxes into smaller sizes to use as building bases, to fit into the laser cutter or even just to get to a smaller, more-easily-manipulatable size for further cutting with normal scissors. There have been times when I unexpectedly ran out of project "bases" and churned out another 20 from whole cardboard boxes in less than two minutes.

6) Pre-cut Cardboard Pieces Library

With all that cardboard, kids might spend hours and hours just trying to cut the simple shapes needed for their projects. 90% of the time kids need to do that sort of dirty work themselves, but when it comes to plain cardboard squares I'd rather the kids use their time building and adjusting a stable structure than trying to cut a just-right square of cardboard. So we keep a library of project "bases"-flat pieces of corrugated cardboard about 30cm x 15cm-as well as small (5-10 cm) basic shapes like circles, squares and triangles that kids can snag as needed. We also keep a library of basic gears designed on geargenerator.com!

This is an area where a laser cutter comes in incredibly handy. We can churn out bins full of our library of shapes in about an hour. In the absence of a laser cutter, it would be hard to produce circles or gears, but the electric cardboard cutters would greatly simplify churning out squares and triangles.

5) A Wind Tunnel

If this feels sort of silly and random, that's because it is! A student built a PVC-pipe-and-plastic-sheet windtunnel for a science project last year, and I'm so glad we held on to it. Testing in most design scenarios is pretty hard for any conditions other than a"typical room" (or if we're lucky, "whatever the weather is outside"). But we've already used the wind tunnel for two different projects, and I anticipate using it more as we develop more opportunities for design, testing and iteration. We also have a very large sink that we use as a testing environment, and I hope we'll be able to add others. A hot box? What else?

This is a hack stolen directly from my husband's electronics prototyping lab. Spools of insulated wire are expensive and it's easy for a class of 20-30 kids to go through a 100 foot spool in one class period. But a 1,000 foot bulk spool of cat5 cable costs only about three times what a 100 foot spool of typical stranded hook-up wire. That 1,000 feet of cat5 actually contains 8,000 feet of wire. That's not a typo: Eight Thousand Feet!

Because cat5 wire is comprised of eight twisted strands of pretty high-gauge (thin) wire, you can easily strip off the outer plastic jacket to remove whatever lengths of (color-coded) wire are inside. Stranded and solid-core cat5 are both available on Amazon. Stranded wire is generally more flexible, and I've found it to be easier for kids to manipulate.

This is a HUGE money saving hack!

3) Google Drive (and a general account dedicated for the makerspace)

Files being sent for laser cutting, photos and videos collected, 3D files awaiting slicing...a lot of digital fabrication means a lot of file transfer. For our iPad Minis in particular, having a dedicated Google Drive account for our makerspace has been critical. Our iPad Minis stay logged in to that account, and students upload their "Garage Band" recordings, green screened photos and videos, and other digital resources from the iPad directly to that Google account, and then share it with their own Google accounts. (Yes, we're a GAFE school.)

This way, kids don't need to log in or out of their own accounts on the iPads. They can upload and share laser cutting files that are then accessible to any of the teachers who operate the laser cutter, and I have a base email address for creating communal accounts on programs like Scratch or Tinkercad.

2) A Wall-Mount Drying Rack

Cable management is a nightmare, and there are lots of solutions on the market and hacks on Pinterest for managing all the various wires that are needed in working with electronics. But alligator clip jumper wires are in a special category all on their own. They're in constant use, moving in and out of projects, are delicate (kids yank off the alligator clips easily) and get hung up on each other. Here's where a drying rack comes in.

When I visited Adrienne Gifford's fantastic space at Open Window School on the east side of the Seattle metro area, I spotted her brilliant solution of hanging alligator clip wires from a clothesline. We took this idea one step further (and denser!) and incorporated a drying rack into the IKEA shelving system we used for our general storage. Clipping the alligator clips onto the rack rails keeps them organized, un-knotted, easily accessible and has the ultra bonus of adding some nice color to the wall-o-bins.

1) A Mantra/Shared Vocabulary/Shared Expectations

Like I mentioned in my earlier post on makerspace leadership, our big "rules" of the makerspace arose somewhat organically/reactionarily, and I wish I'd thought that need through more ahead of time. We had clear rules like "Must Wear Safety Glasses In The Woodworking Room" and "No Supermanning On The Rolling Chairs," but we were lacking the more cognitive rules around trying and what "help" looks like. What arose was:

You have to try. And when it doesn't work, just try again.

"Help" doesn't mean "do it for you."

These just arose, sort of in the same way the term "Monster Scissors" arose. I said them a few times and they stuck. And I don't think "that's what stuck" is the best way to establish kid-friendly common language around habits of mind.

Given another shot at launching a makerspace, I might try to use introductory projects as opportunities to more explicitly explore and reflect on the habits of mind growth in a makerspace.I would introduce the ideas of perseverance and independence before starting the projects rather than only in response as I run into "requests for help" that are actually a kiddo trying to give me their materials to do for them.

Although, maybe not. Maybe introducing those ideas in response was a more effective way for the kids to absorb it? In any case, the kids are now only rarely "helping" their friends by doing whatever task for them! Now that we have that mantra, it gives teachers, other adults and peers a consistent response to students who are getting frustrated.

Do Your Makerspace Materials Matter?

In a makerspace, planning out the "stuff" you need definitely feels daunting. In many discussions about school makerspaces, many will assert that the equipment/materials in the space don't matter and that the atmosphere and mindsets in the space are what truly determine learning success.

While I agree with the latter, I don't agree with the former. The equipment/materials DO matter, as does the physical space itself ( see Sapna Cheryan's research). Organized materials and the right tools for the job will allow students to develop that critical thinking, tinkering, prototyping mindset and perseverance that are the true desired outcomes of a school makerspace. Hopefully these ideas can help you launch to those ends more easily!

For more, see:

Lindsey Own teaches science at The Evergreen School in Shoreline, WA. Follow Lindsey on Twitter, @LindseyOwn.

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Top 10 Things You Didn't Know Your Makerspace Needs

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Some makerspace components are so commonly known that I can even use them to explain my job to non-educators: "I'm our makerspace coordinator. You know, the person who supports the kids with 3D printing and basic electronics and stuff like that." Then they know exactly what I mean.

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by TeacherThought Staff

A Better List Of Ideas For Project-Based Learning

At TeachThought, we're huge fans of project-based learning.

While there is no magic bullet of practice, program, or framework that automatically produces progressive and effective learning, what makes project-based learning exceptional is its flexibility. As it is, first and foremost, simply a curriculum planning tool, so much other "good stuff" that can support learning (game-based learning, learning simulations, place-based education, self-directed learning, etc.) can all be "embedded" in project-based learning.

With PBL, there is no "either/or" proposition: anything from open-ended, play-based learning to data-driven, research-based instructional environments can all use PBL effectively.

While there are all kinds of great resources necessary to "run" PBL (including those from Edutopia.org), from apps to planning templates and more, the genesis of a great project is the idea itself-the purpose and/or audience of the project itself.

Below, we've shared dozens of ideas for projects, and we're going to constantly update the list with new ideas, suggestions from our community, resources, etc. In that way, this page can become the ultimate guide for project-based learning in your classroom. The focus will be on the ideas for the projects themselves, but we'll also include apps, tools, and other "stuff" you'll need to effectively realize this approach in your classroom.

6 Posts To Get Started With Project-Based Learning

The Constantly-Updated List Of Ideas For Project-Based Learning

Note: This list will constantly be updated with new ideas, tools, and resources. As such, some fields will be empty, updated, or removed as we build and improve the list over time. Note that the list is intentionally not separated into "content areas," as many of the projects could be approached from a number of angles (the math of design, the language of planning, and so on).

1. Idea: Create an interactive family tree with voice-overs from living family members, and added

Consider Using: VoiceThread, YouTube

2. Idea: Design an app with a specific purpose for a specific audience

3. Idea: Inventory the world's most compelling apps in an elegant and browsable interface

4. Idea: Design a modern library using a problem-solution format, and annotate its critical features

5. Idea: Solve the problem of negative news

6. Idea: Using the best thinking of major world civilizations, design the perfect civilization. Identify critical characteristics, resources, and habits, etc.

7. Idea: Mash Reddit with facebook with YouTube (or any 3 social media channels)

8. Idea: Help local businesses increase environmental sustainability (e.g., reduce waste)

Audience: Your neighborhood, the businesses themselves

9. Idea: Identify, analyze, and visualize recurring themes in human history; then contextualize those themes in modern society

10. Idea: Make a compelling case of connectivism (student chooses "angle": intellectual, recreational, etc.)

11. Idea: Make a compelling case for independence (student chooses "angle": intellectual, recreational, etc.)

12. Idea: Leverage the wisdom of nursing homes

13. Idea: Artfully express, analyze the causes-effects of, or otherwise evaluate population growth

14. Idea: Debate the relationship between technology and humanity from a historical (Mary Shelley?) or modern (Steve Jobs?) perspective

15. Idea: Reverse global warming, or re-imagine major coastal cities in light of 6 degrees of warming

16. Idea: Measure the sociological impact of social media on local communities (using a self-selected parameter)

17. Idea: Design an alert system to halt the spread of deadly disease

Audience: Local, national, and international governments; local communities; medical professionals

18. Idea: Plant and manage a garden to feed local homeless/hungry

19. Idea: Solve a personal problem.Brainstorm personal challenges by proximity to learner: first by individual, then family, neighborhood, city, state, and so on. Then have learner select one, design a scale for solving it, and sketch out a plan to make it happen.

20. Idea: Analyze the impact of great architecture-or lack thereof-on a community

21. Idea: Dissect the anatomy of viral web content

22. Idea: Help a local business that does "good work" market itself to younger audiences. Create a proposal, present to business, refine proposal based on feedback

23. Idea: Artfully illustrate the global history of civil rights

24. Idea: Visually demonstrate the galaxy's behavior from changing a single parameter (e.g., the gravity level of a single planet)

Considering Using: The Universe Sandbox simulation

25. Idea: Design the next Google (the next method of content and data discovery)

26. Idea: Re-imagine a popular social media platform based on the success of another; carry design through to prototyping and/or marketing phase

27. Idea: Plan a Mars colony using current data of the Martian landscape and atmosphere

28. Idea: Create a photo documentary, then turn that into a film documentary, then turn that into a short eBook

29. Idea: Define, Analyze, and Visualize an Abstract Concept (Wisdom, Freedom, Conflict, etc.)

30. Idea: Develop a feasible response to potential asteroid-> earth collisions

31. Idea: Analyze the cause and effect of low voter turnout on both democracy, and the health of the local community

32. Idea: Re-imagine the American Constitution-or similar governing documents-as if they were designed today

33. Idea: Perform a cause-effect analysis on consumerism

34. Idea: Create and publish a weekly or monthly podcast on a self-selected topic based on market data

35. Idea: Film a documentary on an under-served social issue few people see

36. Idea: Imagine and articulate a community where neighbor-to-neighbor and neighborhood-to-neighborhood interaction was necessary to survive

37. Idea: Design a better physical book

38. Idea: Identify an emerging musical genre, write a song that fits in that genre, produce a video, design a website to promote it

39. Idea: Design a school, including new content areas, grading, collaboration, and community involvement

40. Idea: Create and manage a YouTube channel for a self-determined and authentic purpose

Considering Using: YouTube

41. Idea: Solve your parent's problem of being too busy

Audience: Your parents, of course.

Consider Using: A mini-documentary, analytics, etc.

42. Idea: Analyze, visualize, and socialize the long-term impact of coal on the environment

43. Idea: Revise the United Nations in some way, shape, or form to better respond to international crises

44. Idea: Answer the following question: What would (insert historical figure here) say about (insert relevant social issue here)?

45. Idea: Re-conceive iTunes as an aggregation tool and player for traditional literary forms (e.g., poetry, fiction, etc.)

46. Idea: Redesign your city to reduce the need for extended commutes

47. Idea: Research all modern tools sued to provide clean water access, then design a better tool

48. Idea: Study local land regions and resources to identify a geological-based response to the Zombie Apocalypse

Consider Using: Google Earth

Image attribution flickr user nickspicture

Source: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/a-better-list-of-ideas-for-project-based-learning/

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A Better List Of Ideas For Project-Based Learning

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by TeacherThought Staff A Better List Of Ideas For Project-Based Learning At TeachThought, we're huge fans of project-based learning. While there is no magic bullet of practice, program, or framework that automatically produces progressive and effective learning, what makes project-based learning exceptional is its flexibility.

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You won't often need the full inventory, but it can sure help if you need to find that one thing...

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Fusion360 lets you share designs + collaborate online!

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Share 2D and 3D design files and project files with anyone.

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Make a quick laser cut box

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MakerCase generates box designs for laser cutters and CNC routers and outputs SVG and DXF files ready for cutting.

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J. Ricci

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Session Notes - Maker Centered Teaching and Learning - FabPlay Institute - J. Ricci

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The Cleveland Municipal School District partnered with TIES is very excited for the Mobile Fab Lab to visit as many schools as possible this year to get kids thinking, tinkering and making amazing things!

The Mobile Fab Lab is one of MC2 STEM High School 's four Fab Labs. The Mobile Fab Lab is a 28-foot long trailer full of MakerEd and Fabrication tools including 3D printers, laser cutters, a vinyl cutter, a ShopBot and electronics equipment. The goal of the MFL is to introduce students to learning through fabrication and opening their eyes to technologies and possible careers they would not normally come across in a traditional classroom.

The Mobile Fab Lab is ready to visit your school or come to your next big event. With pre-designed learning experiences that engage learners ages 5-99 from 1 hour to 1 week, we are ready to get you excited about making something new and interesting! Check out our Projects page to see some of the projects we have designed, or the Blog to see what we are up to lately! Our Fab Team is also available to work with teachers to develop a unique learning experience!

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The Cleveland Municipal School District partnered with TIES is very excited for the Mobile Fab Lab to visit as many schools as possible this year to get kids thinking, tinkering and making amazing things! The Mobile Fab Lab is one of MC2 STEM High School's four Fab Labs.

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Investigating the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning

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Online Laser Cutting & Engraving. Ship Same Day. 24/7 Online Quotes

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Laser cutting & engraving for makers & businesses ✅ Your product designs custom made by our designers & robots, fast. Make your first product FREE

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https://blog.seesaw.me/fabplay2019/#!/

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Not long ago, one fine day or one dark night, depending on your time zone, the Octo Stool met Ponoko. They fell in love. Out of their hi-tech union came PonOcto. The PonOcto stool is hopefully the first in the new "Ponokofied" phase of Tom Kluyskens' plywood furniture designs. Previously the New Zealand designer used more traditional CNC workshops to fabricate various plywood furniture and admits that his maximum yield layouts caused some friction between him and the fabricators.

At the mercy of NZ's two degrees of separation, Tom kept coming across people from the Ponoko community, which got him more and more interested in digifabbing. At one stage he met Dave Ten Have and was a little star struck. Tom's first project with Ponoko was a little lasercut felt container for candies that he sent out to people as a gift when his daughter was born. The container is based on a geometric shape that folds on itself to make a perfectly contained volume. Tom is now keen to write a customizer for it, so others can make their own using the Ponoko API. The CNC cutting service was something that Tom anticipated with much eagerness, and as soon as it was announced, he redesigned his established Octo stool to work with the Ponoko system. He couldn't resist the name PonOcto, probably not even realising that the stool was to be Ponoko's first CNC order. Bonus points for symbolism.

Making with Ponoko meant that Tom was able to apply innovative changes to some of his processes, such as combining lasercutting and CNC routing. Previously he used colour-laminated ply, or painted the cut pieces, but for the first PonOcto prototype he laminated feature ply surfaces with laser cut acrylic. Tom is incredibly enthusiastic about the possibilities presented by precise control over laminate finishing and is looking at incorporating selective lamination, hidden joinery detail, etc in his future designs. Tom's furniture material of choice is clearly plywood, which he selected for its durability as well as availability of sustainably harvested options. His designs feature friction joints, so material stability is extremely important for precision cutting to ensure correct thicknesses and profiles. Before assembly, all the CNC cut pieces require sanding, which means that, for the time being at least, PonOcto stools cannot be shipped from the fabricator directly to the customer, as they have to be hand finished by the designer.

More from the designer after the jump:

How would you describe your creative process? My process is inspired by my 10+ years of experience in visual effects. Practically, it means that after a quick jot on paper, I pretty much immediately reach out for the digital tools. Rhino for modeling, and SideFX Houdini for the parametric stuff. My pieces evolve while iterating digitally. And I do everything to make that iteration process as quick as possible. Whereas I was setting up digital rigs for spaghetti twisters and Balrog fire in my movie days, I now make parametric rigs for my furniture and other stuff. The considerable difference being the immense satisfaction of seeing my creations turn to real objects! I also deeply enjoy the physical work involved in finishing the pieces, though really, there isn't much finishing to do.

On a less practical level, still inspired by movie work, my pieces are a little whimsical, and the digital tools and interfaces I work on have strong cinematic influences: photoreal, dynamic, very polished visually, but also interactive and realtime. I'm using Unity3D a lot. Just like in movies, I'm interested in creating experiences rather than just products. Have you been surprised by anything in the Ponoko process? I am a fervent supporter of this manufacturing paradigm that's - let's be honest- still very much in its infancy. I find it amazing Ponoko somehow finds a way to keep going while still being so much ahead of the curve that there really isn't a market to speak of yet. I deeply deeply respect Ponoko for leading the way, time after time, towards what's clearly a better and more relevant alternative for making things.

The manufacturing side of the service is viable for only a limited (yet growing) set of products, but these are the limitations of any new paradigm. Tools and materials will undoubtedly evolve, but more importantly, services like Ponoko force us to rethink the way we make things, to fit into a new, and ultimately better manufacturing framework. In my specific case, my joinery becomes more and more intricate, to the point of being engineered, so I can use flat sheet type materials that are cut based on 2D shapes. Pieces that slowly but surely start to compete with products from more traditional but less and less relevant manufacturing models.

By realeasing their API, it opens up the business to one of the major upsides of the digital fabrication paradigm: apps that allow parametric customization of products. As such, in my eyes, Ponoko instantly became much more true to itself, and prepared for a very bright future indeed. I certainly plan to develop a few of those apps in the near future.
http://madeonjupiter.com/ http://www.ponoko.com/design-your-own/products/2-ponocto-stools-5972

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting

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Not long ago, one fine day or one dark night, depending on your time zone, the Octo Stool met Ponoko. They fell in love. Out of their hi-tech union came PonOcto.The PonOcto stool is hopefully the first in the new "Ponokofied" phase of Tom Kluyskens' plywood furniture designs.