# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tagged

Michelle, or Binka, makes . While at Maker Media, she oversaw publications, outreach, and programming for kids, families, and schools. Before joining Maker Media in 2007, she worked at the Exploratorium, in Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, and as a curriculum designer for various publishers and educational researchers. When she's not supporting future makers, including her two young sons, Binka does some making of her own, most often as a visual artist.

View more articles by Michelle "Binka" Hlubinka

As part of our Back-to-School series, we are sharing chapters and excerpts from the Makerspace Playbook: School Edition. Today, Chapter 4, Safety.

No matter how you equip your school Makerspace, it's likely that if you are doing anything interesting with your students or members there are some risks involved. Be sure to emphasize safety to the users of your Makerspace. Learning how to use a tool isn't all that helpful unless you also learn all the risks and precautions you have to take in order to come out of your project build with all your eyes, ears, fingers, and limbs intact.

It's a fine line, though, between informing kids about the potential dangers and scaring them from ever using any interesting tools! While accidents happen when the proper steps aren't taken, many millions, perhaps billions, of people make with dangerous equipment every day without incident. Our goal is to make safety second nature for kids, so that they feel at ease when they use the tools because they know they have protected themselves and prepared as much as they could before lifting the tool or clicking its power switch.

It doesn't take much to cause permanent disability. The more powerful and more complex the tool, the more damage it can cause, and the faster it can cause it. While we all hope the worst doesn't happen, you and your students must be aware of the danger and prepare.

Consider creating a "Maker mantra" that covers potential risks in your shop, that your Makerspace can chant as you get started with each build session. Perhaps something like:

Protect. Double-check. Aim away. Clamp it. Focus. Never play.

Planning for Safety

Stimulating a culture of safety can dramatically cut down on shop mishaps as members are encouraged members to watch out for the safety of each other and respect the equipment. You can accomplish this by modeling safe behavior in your own actions and in how you set up the space, setting up a strict training regimen, and posting signs and checklists.

Makerspace users of all ages need to be trained in safely operating tools before using them. And they also need reminders. In Hillel Posner's woodshop in Pittsburg, California, he has a multi-step process for being certified on a machine before the student is able to use it independently. Then he also posts a sign on each machine to explain its ideal application and some key safety guidelines.

Cleaning up is not just a measure of respect for the workspace, it also removes hazards. Plan to easily and regularly remove trash and debris. Enforce a strict cleanup policy throughout the workspace. Keep work areas tidy as well by minimizing the number of wires running around. Extension cords quickly become tripping hazards, and power strips also cause trouble on the ground or as they tumble erratically on a desktop. We suggest you provide access to grounded outlets all along the perimeter of the room and/or dropped from the ceiling for each workbench.

Tools need to have enough space to be operated safely and not endanger the operator or other people in the space. People need to concentrate when trying new tools, especially ones that can injure. Make sure there is enough real estate to use a tool safely. Work areas need to be well lit and clean. Ventilation and/or air filtering is required for many tools.

The equipment itself needs to be as safe as possible. Tools should be well maintained and not have safety features removed or defeated. This is especially important when using second-hand tools that might not have a perfectly safe heritage. When acquiring new tools consider spending the extra money on models with advanced safety features, such as a SawStop table saw.

Make well-stocked first-aid kits visible and easily accessible throughout your space. Post clear and visible warning signs on all equipment and where necessary.

Provide personal safety equipment such as goggles, earplugs, gloves, etc. to those who don't have their own.

Accidents may happen. They probably will, and let's hope they are all minor. Nonetheless, do make sure that there is a legal entity that owns the space so that the effects of a serious injury don't extend the horror with legal ramifications. If you house the Makerspace at a school, the district's coverage would likely suffice. If there's no legal entity, we suggest you form an LLC or a corporation to shield individual members from any liability.

Common Rules

It seems like every teacher writes their own rules, often adapting someone else's rules to the idiosyncrasies of his or her own space, and adding more as they go along (and students reveal new rules that need to be written!) Rules work best when they are in your own voice, as you'll be repeating them often. Common safety rules we've seen posted in shops and other making classrooms are listed below (formatted as a one-page document Common Safety Rules, right.)

The emergency phone number is 9-1-1
(or describe your emergency procedure here.)

Report all injuries.

Do not attempt to remove foreign objects from the eye or body.

If chemicals get in the eye(s), wash eye(s) for 15 minutes in an open flow of water before proceeding for medical treatment.

Use protective gear. Dress right.

Wear eye protection: safety glasses with side shields, goggles, or face shields at all times, whether working or not!!

Do not wear loose-fitting clothing around moving or rotating machinery.

Remove ties, jewelry, gloves, etc. especially around moving or rotating machinery.

Tie back or cover long hair to keep it away from moving machinery.

Wear only shoes that cover the entire foot, no open-toe shoes or sandals.

Wear suitable gloves when handling hot objects, glass, or sharp-edged items.

Wear appropriate clothing for the job (i.e., do not wear short sleeve shirts or short pants when welding).

Prepare.

Safety is your top priority when using the shop. If you are not sure what you are doing, ask.

Know all the locations of all first aid, fire, and safety equipment.

Never use a tool unless you've been trained to use it safely.

Never work alone when using power tools. Two persons must be present and be able to see one another.

Sign in before using any equipment.

Do not work in the shop if tired, or in a hurry.

Do not fool around, startle, or distract anyone (not even with a conversation) while either one of you is using a tool.

Think through the entire job before starting. Prepare prints or drawings with all dimensions and specifications prior to using machines.

Use tools right.

Use tools only as they were designed to be used. (A wrench is not a hammer.)

Never use a broken tool.

Report any broken tools or machines immediately.

Do not remove tools from the room.

Never walk away from a tool that is still on.

A hard hammer should not be used to strike a hardened tool or any machine part. Use a soft-faced hammer.

Operate machines only with all required guards and shields in place.

Clean up.

Clean up every time whenever you leave an area, including sweeping the floor.

Clean and return all tools to where you got them.

Use compressed air sparingly; never aim it at another person or use it to clean hair or clothes.

Shut off and unplug machines when cleaning, repairing, or oiling.

Never use a rag near moving machinery.

Use a brush, hook, or a special tool to remove chips, shavings, etc. from the work area. Never use the hands.

Keep fingers clear of the point of operation of machines by using special tools or devices, such as, push sticks, hooks, pliers, etc.

Keep the floor around machines clean, dry, and free from trip hazards. Do not allow chips to accumulate.

Mop up spills immediately and put a chair or cone over them if they are wet enough to cause someone to slip.

Rules to make by

William Gurstelle wrote a piece called "The Safe Workshop: Rules to make by" for our 2011 Ultimate Workshop and Tool Guide, and we're including this text below.

Your workshop should be a welcoming and friendly place. The key lies in creating a safe and secure environment. Before embarking on a new project, it's a good idea to take a close look at the working conditions in your shop. If your project area gives you a vaguely nervous feeling, now's the time to bring things up to date. Don't delay: inspect, review, and evaluate your space and make whatever changes seem necessary to keep you out of trouble.

Don't know where to start? Here are some ideas from the members of MAKE's Technical Advisory Board to get you started. Have at it!

Obtain a pair of well-fitting, cool polycarb goggles, leather work gloves, and a protective lab coat. Make them attractive and stylish so that wearing safety equipment is fun.

Pull back long hair.

Secure your work when using hand or power tools. Always use clamps, not your hands, to hold a work piece on a drill press table. If the tool binds, the work will spin dangerously.

Aim away from yourself. When cutting with a utility knife, position yourself so that when you slip, the blade doesn't land in your flesh.

Avoid using a table saw when you can. Statistically, it's easily the most dangerous piece of equipment in the shop.

Don't touch a bare wire, or cut any wire, until you're sure where the other end goes. When in doubt, measure the potential. This will save you from a possible heart-stopping electrical shock.

Always keep a first aid kit in your workshop, and always know where it is. First aid kits can be purchased ready- made, or you can put one together yourself. Essential items include bandages, pads, gauze, scissors, tweezers, and tape.

If you work with heavy things - say, timbers or angle iron - or are prone to dropping tools, steel-toed safety shoes are a great investment in long-term foot appearance.

Install a smoke detector in your shop and place a fire extinguisher in an easy-to-reach spot. Make sure the extinguisher is rated for all types of fires.

Wear a particle mask when appropriate to avoid breathing dust and other particulate pollutants common in workshops. Sawdust from treated wood and some plastics have known health risks.

The high-decibel noise generated by power tools such as table saws and circular saws can damage your hearing. Protect your ears by using full-sized, earmuff-style protectors.

Wait 12 hours between sketching the plans and starting the construction process. The times people get hurt are usually when they're excited and in a hurry. Slow down, and work deliberately.

Specific Safety Guidelines

Tools are safe when used responsibly. But even simple hand tools can cause accidental scrapes, cuts, and pinches. Hammers can crush or produce flying debris. Here are some other more specific safety guidelines often connected to certain kinds of tools.

Flying objects. Safety glasses should be worn at all times in the shop, especially while working near hammers and power tools to protect eyes from flying debris. Enforce eye protection while members solder.

Invisible dangers. Safety doesn't only mean avoiding gushing blood. Foster good habits of consumerism by encouraging your students to choose materials with full knowledge of the potential long-term effects of their use. For example, never use a laser cutter to cut PVC or other chlorinated plastics. Lexan and PC board are also strongly discouraged. PVC gives off chlorine gas, which is dangerous for any nearby people and also highly corrosive to the machine. Many shipments are accompanied by a material safety data sheet (MSDS), and if they aren't, then these are usually accessible online.

The air you breathe. Respirators (masks) should also be worn when sanding with either a power sander or by hand. Any kind of soldering generates fumes from the rosin core of the solder so the area should be ventilated. Under normal soldering conditions, solder containing lead poses no health risk, though makers should be encouraged to wash their hands after a long period of handling leaded solder. Lead-free solder is available but less recommended because the rosin gives off much more toxic fumes when soldering, is more corrosive to soldering tips, requires higher temperatures to solder with, and is generally harder to work with.

Note the name: "power" tools. They are powerful. Some power tools are heavy and should be not be used by makers who don't have the strength to control the tool well. Power tools can grab anything that dangles near them. When using any power tool long hair should be tied up, and loose clothes and jewelry should be secured.

Multiple risks. Electric saws have high-power moving blades that can quickly cause traumatic injuries. However the chance of injury is small when properly maintained and used with care and attention. In addition to safety glasses, respirators (masks) and earplugs should be worn during use of electric saws.

Fire. Heat guns and handheld torches can generate fires if used without proper attention to the work and surrounding areas.

Burns. Make sure there's cool running water nearby for burns. Use the lower-heat glue guns when possible. The tip of a soldering iron heats to about 400°F, hot enough to cause burns. It should be handled attentively. Steam irons (used in sewing) do get hot enough to cause burns.

Sewing can cause a small prick from a needle, but sewing machines and sergers both have enough power to put a needle through a finger when used carelessly. Sergers also have blades that can cut a careless finger.

Metalwork areas need welding screens or curtains to prevent eye damage in passersby. Visors should be worn while welding.

Safety Plans

Makers who display, operate, or use any items that pose a danger to others - such as fire (including all heat-producing or open-flame devices, candles, lamps, etc.), explosions, internal combustion, flammable liquids, compressed gases, hazardous chemicals, launches, sharp or otherwise dangerous materials or tools - will have to explain what they'll do to keep others safe when they exhibit their project to others. Whether or not your showcase event will require a written Safety Plan, creating one is a wise habit to establish among your students. We've included a template for a Safety Plan in the Resources chapter.

Safety plans make you and your students more confident that you are all aware of the foreseeable risks, considered possible consequences, and have taken all the precautions you could to ensure everyone's safety.

At Maker Faire, safety plans are necessary for any projects that would display, operate, or use any of these:

Lamps and other heat-producing devices including hot glue guns

Open flames, burners, candles, etc.

Internal-combustion engines

Flammable liquids, compressed gases, or dangerous chemicals including propane and helium

Any potentially hazardous electrical / mechanical device or chemical / biological substance

Safety plans typically include a description of the exhibit or demonstration, the names, qualifications and previous experience of people working the exhibit, a description of general safety precautions, and the emergency plan. If the project includes fire, the safety plan should also describe the fuel source, how much is onsite, where and how it is stored, how much is burning and in what amount of time it burns, and if the valve has an electronic propane sniffer.

By the way, there's usually a different process for people who plan to serve food to people they don't know (the public), which involves getting a city permit.

backtoschool Education Makerspaces

Michelle, or Binka, makes . While at Maker Media, she oversaw publications, outreach, and programming for kids, families, and schools. Before joining Maker Media in 2007, she worked at the Exploratorium, in Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, and as a curriculum designer for various publishers and educational researchers. When she's not supporting future makers, including her two young sons, Binka does some making of her own, most often as a visual artist.

View more articles by Michelle "Binka" Hlubinka

Related Stories from Make:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tagged Michelle, or Binka, makes . While at Maker Media, she oversaw publications, outreach, and programming for kids, families, and schools. Before joining Maker Media in 2007, she worked at the Exploratorium, in Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, and as a curriculum designer for various publishers and educational researchers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I spent part of my summer learning how to do green screen from my niece, who goes by The Mustache Man on YouTube. She saved up her birthday and Christmas money to buy a green screen. She is hard core about making movies for her YouTube channel. She writes a script, auditions her friends, has a rehearsal and shooting schedule, etc. The Tween helped shoot her summer movie by providing some behind the scenes support. I was going to write a Green Screen tutorial, but a couple of good ones have popped up recently and I will just point you to them:
Green screen Tutorial and Free Software Naomi Bates recently shared a link to this great green screen tutorial The Library as Incubator Project tweeted this Green Screen tutorial for iPads
But I do want to share a couple of important tips I've learned. . .

1. Good lighting is really important. While we were learning how to do the green screen effects we had some bad lighting and it was hard to get the editing software to recognize all the green screen parts to remove because it was a lot of different tones. Good lighting is your friend.

2. You don't necessarily have to buy an actual green screen. A green bed sheet works just as well.

3. Your green screen does not even technically have to be green. Any color will work as long as it is one solid color that doesn't appear anywhere else in your shot. The editing program allows you to pick a color that you want to remove. It's traditionally a green screen because it's not as common a color unless you're talking about nature. Blue is traditionally the other acceptable color, though if you are working with a blue eyed actor it can pose problems.

4. Hair can be an issue. If you have lots of flying hair ends it can be harder to work with. If you can, especially in the beginning, trying putting hair up.

5. A green screen doesn't have to just be used for video, it can work for photographs as well. You can make some cool "location" photos by using a green screen.

When my niece was teaching me to do green screen, we went outside and filmed the sky while walking up and down the street. Then we did the same thing driving slowly in the car to get moving video footage. She then pretended to fly by placing a stool under her green screen that she could lay down across and make flying motions. It worked pretty well. It took us about 15 minutes.

MakerSpace Notes:

My Original Mobile Makerspace (the text below)
My Updated Mobile Makerspace
MakerSpace Tech Tools Comparison Chart
The Unboxing and Learning Curve
Exploring Circulating Maker Kits and Circulating Maker Kits part 2 with a Book List
The Maker Bookshelf/Collection (with a book list)
Strawbees part 1 and part 2
Things I Learned Visiting the Cincinnati MakerSpace: Fun with Buttons! Edition
Creating and Using an iPad Lab in Your Library
Take 5: 5 Tools for Movie Making in Your MakerSpace
Take 5: The Robot Test Kitchen Reading List
Making Movie Magic with Tweens and Teens at Your Library
5 Ways Maker Spaces/Days/Labs Can Trump "Traditional" Library Programming
Quick and Easy Stop Motion Movies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I spent part of my summer learning how to do green screen from my niece, who goes by The Mustache Man on YouTube. She saved up her birthday and Christmas money to buy a green screen. She is hard core about making movies for her YouTube channel.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Step-by-step

We make it easy to learn how to make anything, one step at a time. From the stovetop to the workshop, you are sure to be inspired by the awesome projects that are shared everyday.

Made By You

Instructables are created by you. No matter who you are, we all have secret skills to share. Come join our community of curious makers, innovators, teachers, and life long learners who love to share what they make.

A Happy Place

Making things makes people happy. We can't prove it, but we know it to be true. Find your happy place, and join one of the friendliest online communities anywhere.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Instructables is a community for people who like to make things. Come explore, share, and make your next project with us!

# data[].attributes.headline
Maker Education Camp: Circuit Crafts | User Generated Education

# data[].attributes.subject
Maker Education Camp: Circuit Crafts | User Generated Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is my third summer offering maker education summer camps as part of a bigger program at a local school. During mornings (9 to 12 with a half hour recess), campers, grades Kindergarten through 6th grade, can choose from one of four enrichment classes: art, drama, games, foreign languages, computers, and in my case, maker camps. During the afternoons, all campers get together for typical camp activities - fun and games, field trips, water sports, silly competitions. Each camp lasts a week. This summer I am offering: Cardboard Creations, Circuit Crafts, Toy Making and Hacking, and Robotics and Coding.

I often discuss the need to implement maker education programs with minimal cost materials and ones that offer the potential to tap into diverse learners and their diverse interests:

3d Printers, Ardinos, litteBits, Makey-Makeys, GoSpheros, Lillipads, . . . oh my! These technologies are seductive especially seeing all the press they get on social media, blogs, and Kickstarter. Given all of the media coverage, an educator new to Maker Education may get the perception that it is all about this kind of high tech stuff. For less affluent schools or after-school programs, it may seem that maker education is out of their reach given budgetary restraints. A maker education program can be fully implemented with minimal cost supplies. Cardboard boxes, recycled materials such as water bottles, detergent bottles, and other plastic throwaways, tape, glue guns, scissors/knives, and markers in conjunction with learners' imaginations, creativity, and innovative ideas can be the stuff that makerspaces are made of ( Making MAKEing more inclusive).

Many of the discussions about and actions related to integrating maker education into educational environments center around the use of new technologies such computer components ( Raspberry Pis, Arduinos), interactive robots for kids ( Dash and Dot, Ozobots, Spheros), and 3D printers. These technologies are lots of fun and I facilitate Robotics and Computer Science with my gifted students and at one of my summer camps (noting that I purchased the robots myself). The learners engaged in these high tech learning activities with high excitement and motivation. Such high excitement, engagement and motivation, though, were also seen at my low tech/low cost maker education camps: LED crafts, Toy Hacking and Making, and Cardboard Creations. A recent NPR article discussed several challenges for maker education. One of them was related to equity issues, providing maker education for all students regardless of income level:

A big challenge for maker education: making it not just the purview mostly of middle- and upper-middle-class white kids and white teachers whose schools can afford laser cutters, drones or 3-D printers ( 3 Challenges As Hands-On, DIY Culture Moves Into Schools).

( Cardboard Creations: A Maker Education Camp )

This post lists the materials I used for the Circuit Crafts and descriptions of the activities.

Materials and Costs:

This camp did have some costs associated with it but I believe that given the wide range of activities offered, the costs were justified. The following is my materials list and costs. FYI - I actually purchased most of these materials cheaper via ebay.

Snap Circuits Pro (2 at $60 each - $120)

Circuit Maze (2 @ $23 each - $46)

Circuit Kits (3 at $14 https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Circuit-Kit-Batteries-Holders/dp/B00FKCVFPW - $42)

Squishy Circuits

Playdoh (two 10 packs at $8.00 each - $16)

modeling clay (24 color pack @ $14)

5 mm LED's - used for several projects (500 mixed color from ebay - $14)

9V Batteries (10 2-packs from Dollar Store - $10)

battery terminals with wires (20 - $10)

Gami-Bots

business cards ($5)

coin pager motors (50 from ebay - $25; I got extras as sometimes the wires pull out and sometimes the campers want to make more than one)

coin batteries - used for several projects (200 from ebay - $20)

Wiggle or Art Bots

Paper Circuits

coin batteries (purchased quantity under Gami-bots)

5 MM LED lights (purchased quantity under Squishy Circuits

copper tape (2 rolls of 1/8″ x 55 yd - $15)

Minecraft Blocks and Dollhouses
Cardstock (150 sheet pack from Walmart - $5.50)

Miscellaneous Supplies (found at school)

The total budget for serving 20 kids for 2.5 hours per day for 5 days was about $450 noting that the games and kits ($200 of the money) used to kick-off the camp were one time purchases. They will be used again for future camps. It ended up being $22 for each camper for the entire week - $12.50 without the games or kits. Having a materials fee; or doing DonorsChoose.org or a fundraiser can easily cover these costs.

What follows are descriptions and how-tos for the circuit activities at did at this maker camp.

Introduction to Circuits with Games and Manipulatives

To introduce learners to circuits, they played with:

For the first morning, I set up stations for each of the above. Learners were asked to work with a partner or two. They moved to any station at any time as long as they spent time finishing several projects at a given station.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Squishy Circuits

Squishy Circuits uses conductive and insulating play dough to teach the basics of electrical circuits in a fun, hands-on way. There's no need for breadboards or soldering - just add batteries and pre-made doughs (or make your own dough). Squishy Circuits are very simple and is based on two play doughs - one that is conductive (electricity flows through it) and one that is insulative (does not allow electricity to flow through it). Power is supplied by a 4AA battery pack and travels through the conductive dough to provide power to LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), buzzers, or motors. https://squishycircuits.com/what-is-squishy-circuits/

This PDF was shared with the makers campers: Squishy Circuits Introduction PDF. It provides some background and simple get started activities.

I then project resources on the Whiteboard to spark ideas for creative use of Squishing Circuits: http://www.pearltrees.com/jackiegerstein/squishy-circuits/id15355392 squishy

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Gami-Bots

A Gami-Bot is a simple DIY origami robot that is made from a vibration motor, business card, 3v cell battery, and tape. It is so easy it practically builds itself ( https://otherlab.com/blog/post/howtoons-gami-bot).

This was developed by Howtoons. They now sell it as a kit but I buy all of the materials separately as they are simple materials and easily accessible.

Directions can be found via this Howtoons cartoon:

This is a high engagement, low entry activity for both younger and older (like adults) learners. I encourage learners to decorate them to make them more anthropomorphic and to engage in free play after their creation which often translates into competitions such as racing and length of time staying in determined area.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Wiggle and Art Bots

As this was a summer camp with a budget, my "big" purchase for this camp was Wiggle Bots bought from TeachGeek , but with a few parts like 3v motors, AA batteries, AA battery holders, plastic cups, markers, and tape, learners can easily make their own wiggle and art bots. See my page of resources on Artbots and Scribbling Machines at http://www.makereducation.com/artbots-scribbling-machines.html

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

LED Paper Projects

The last two days of camp were spent making LED projects:
Minecraft Blocks
I printed off paper templates for Minecraft Blocks from http://stlmotherhood.com/diy-minecraft-light-blocks-diamond-emerald-redstone/. (Yes, it requires a color copier which all of the schools where I work [including the Title 1 ones) have.) Campers were instructed to cut them out and hole punch out "windows" in their blocks to allow the light to shine out. After assembling their blocks leaving the top open, they inserted LED lights with coin batteries taped into place.
http://www.technologystudent.com/elec_flsh/button1.html
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Paper Circuits
I printed off the the parallel and switch circuit templates found at paper-circuit-project-templates. I printed them in color but black and write would have been fine. Additional materials for this project were LEDs, copper tape, and coin batteries. The templates are pretty self-explanatory so I walked around and gave the campers assisted when needed.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Circuit City
Finally, learners were given templates for paper house structures ( https://www.template.net/business/paper-templates/paper-house-template/ - I encouraged campers to add lit LEDs as they did for their Minecraft blocks. They were asked to also use their Minecraft blocks and their paper circuits as part of the city. The miscellaneous materials (craft sticks, straws) were also available for them to use. A large piece of butcher block paper was placed on the floor and the learners were given the following simple directions, "Create a city out of your paper crafts: your houses, Minecraft blocks, and paper circuits. You can use the extra LED/coin batteries and markers to add to your city." Once their city was complete, I darkened the room.

This is the second time I've done this activity, and both times, I observed the campers having lots of fun doing some spontaneous role play interacting with the city and each other.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is my third summer offering maker education summer camps as part of a bigger program at a local school. During mornings (9 to 12 with a half hour recess), campers, grades Kindergarten through 6th grade, can choose from one of four enrichment classes: art, drama, games, foreign languages, computers, and in my case, maker camps.

# data[].attributes.headline
4 Super Easy Budget Friendly Projects for Your Makerspace

# data[].attributes.subject
4 Super Easy Budget Friendly Projects for Your Makerspace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Yes - budget friendly and makerspace can happen in the same sentence. A common misconception about makerspaces is that you have to spend a lot of money to give your students creative, hands-on learning. But you can absolutely do a lot of makerspace projects with little to no money. It might not be as easy as buying some fancy ready made kit, but it's definitely rewarding.

You can absolutely do a lot of awesome #makerspace projects with little to no money. Click To Tweet

Budget Friendly Projects for Your Makerspace

Here's some of my favorite budget friendly projects for makerspaces. Note that while I am in a middle school, I've seen all four of these projects done at both the elementary and high school levels. It might take some scaffolding and adjustment, but they can definitely be done at any level.

Recycled Book Crafts

Books get worn out all the time - I'm constantly weeding books with the spines falling apart and ripped out pages. And you can find cheap books at thrift stores as well. These books can easily be given new life by turning them into makerspace projects such as:

Here's some great resources to check out:

Tech take apart

This is a classic and with good reason. It can be super fun to break out the screwdrivers and open up technology to see how it works. I recommend some supervision for this activity - I left my students alone during this once while I was helping a couple of others across the room. The next thing I knew, they were going at an alarm clock with a hammer.

All you need for this is some old, non-working technology like clocks, stereos or old computers. I recommend cutting the power cable so that students don't try to plug it in halfway through.

Places to look for free tech to take apart:

Appliance and stereo stores

Computer recycling companies

Your storage room!

Parent donations

Another variation that's super budget friendly: toy take apart!

Cardboard. Period.

Yes, I blog a lot about cardboard in our makerspace. There's a reason for that - when my students are asked what their favorite makerspace supply or project is, cardboard comes up over and over again. While I have spent money on some supplies like hot glue guns and Skil cutters, overall the amount spent is really low. I save up cardboard throughout the year as well as recycled materials. Super cheap, and my students absolutely coming up with amazing, creative ideas for things to create with it.

Perler beads

These aren't free, but require a pretty small investment. If you buy non-brand name beads (hello IKEA Pyslla!) you can easily set up a Perler bead station for under $20. Even if you get the brand name version, there's still a lot of bang for your buck. See this post for more tips on using Perler beads in your makerspace.
What's your favorite budget friendly makerspace project?
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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
4 Super Easy Budget Friendly Projects for Your Makerspace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Yes - budget friendly and makerspace can happen in the same sentence. A common misconception about makerspaces is that you have to spend a lot of money to give your students creative, hands-on learning. But you can absolutely do a lot of makerspace projects with little to no money.

# data[].attributes.headline
Out of the Box Approach to Planning Makerspaces - Worlds of Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Out of the Box Approach to Planning Makerspaces - Worlds of Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Don't think outside the box...Think like there is no box. ~ Unknown

One of the most rewarding experiences in writing my second book, The Kickstart Guide to Making GREAT Makerspaces, was having the honor of being able to highlight and showcase GREAT makerspaces far and wide. In doing that research, I discovered some unconventional spaces that clearly have taken an out of the box approach to planning their makerspaces.

Despite the many space out there that are essentially exactly alike, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to planning a makerspace. Makerspaces should as unique and meaningful as the communities they are in. It is my hope that the links and spaces below can a new and unique perspective on what makerspaces can be. Each space described below is unique, emphasizing different skills or themes. Although some of these spaces are not in K-12 schools, there certainly are things we can learn and apply to educational makerspaces.

The Scrap Exchange

The Scrap Exchange's mission is to promote creativity, environmental awareness, and community through reuse. Since 1991, they have been collecting materials from local businesses and residents and distributing these reclaimed materials through a variety of programming.

Textiles Makerspace

This Rutgers Makerspace for textiles allows makers to make apparel, curtains, handbags, E-textiles, pillows, and much more.

Fashion Makerspace

Fashion Makerspace is built to bring back the culture of DIY & dressmaking skills back into the hands of the designer. They are a one-stop-shop combining community, fashion design and dressmaking. A cooperative setup for kids, teens & adults to pick up new skills, upgrade and sustain their love for creating clothing & accessories, Fashion Makerspace envisions building a space where people can come together to mend, create & bond through knowledge & craftsmanship.

Check out this Maker Care program...STEAM + C for compassion...created by Islip, NY Library Media Specialist, Gina Seymour. Gina dedicated a portion of their space to compassionate making. Their MakerCare program provides opportunities for their students to make a difference in the community through making. Each maker project benefits a person or community agency.

Makerspace for Seniors

On the S&S blog, they make a case and outline a plan for creating makerspaces that serve our older population, in nursing homes or assisted living communities.

Disney Internal Makerspace

Disney has a makerspace and it might not be what you think. The purpose of this facility is to help spark creativity for its workers by fostering collaboration and bridging the gap with the tech community.

Meteorology Makerspace

Meteorology proved to be a relevant and authentic theme in the lives of young Oklahomans who survived the devastating 2013 tornado in Moore, so the Irving Middle School Library Makers' Club adopted a meteorology theme. Students learned some fundamental concepts on meteorology, acquired digital and technology skills, and collaborate on students-driven projects. It is the hope that the ideas generated by the students in the space will benefit themselves and their community.

Storytelling Makerspace

The New Hanover County Public Library created Story Place, a storytelling makerspace in the Children's Department of the irMain Library in downtown Wilmington, NC. Their space is equipped with cutting edge technology and manipulatives for parents to explore with their children while creating stories. It promotes family interaction through storytelling and reading at several different stations:

Music Recording

Film Making

Animation

iPad station for story creation, printing, and reading

AWE Early Literacy Station with Educational Games

Flannel Board Station

Puppetry

Interactive Panels

Reading Nook

Joy Berry, a professional religious educator in Asheville, NC, suggested that through makerspaces, religious education can be as hands-on, innovative, and creative as possible and that perhaps the best way to do that is to hand them tools now and give them the opportunity to grow knowledge and skills, becoming problem-solvers who really can change the world.

Ever consider a conscious consumer angle to makerspaces? The MakerNurse community provides nurses with tools, platforms and trainings to create solutions that address their needs or their patients' needs. This article pushes this idea a step further and suggests: What if the hospital makerspace wasn't just open to the nurse, but to a patient who has an idea that will benefit his own care?

Igniting an entrepreneurial spirit in our students, is part of the power of having an makerspace. New Jersey educator, Chris Aviles, leveraged this students lack of exposure to entrepreneurship, brought entrepreneurship to his students by creating a for-profit makerspace. At the center of this initiative is Gizmos, an online shop in which every student has their own online store. Students are in charge of every aspect of their store: they can name it, design it, stock products, create coupons, host sales, advertise, and do everything else an entrepreneur needs to do.

Humanities and Cultural Data

Curtin University Library Makerspace hack and make with cultural data.They even held a Curtin Cultural Makathon, which was a collaborative one-day event between the School of Media, Cultural and Creative Arts, and the Curtin Library makerspace, that brought hackers and makers together to hack cultural datasets and heritage information. The brief was to use government and institutional research data, gallery, library, archive and museum information as data sources to experiment with data to create something accessible or beautiful and/or useful using craft, games, augmented or virtual reality, apps or something else.

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts is dedicated to leading the advancement of the book as an evolving art form. It aims to advance the book as a vital contemporary art form, preserving the traditional crafts of bookmaking and engaging people in learning, production, innovation and creative expression.

Like culinary, design, art, farming? The DH Makerbus in London Ontario is all Digital Humanities, which blends digital technologies with traditional humanities subjects like literature, anthropology, and the history. The MakerBus was created as an expression in their shared interested in the digital humanities and their shared desire to create meaningful change in their community.

One of my personal favorite spaces is the Nature Nook of Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. This outdoor makerspace began with students transporting natural materials from the woods into this space to be able to build and create. The space evolved into a multi-sensory nature-based play area, complete with a water pump, shovels and a range of natural materials with which to build and create.

Don't be afraid of taking and out of the box approach to planning your school's makerspace. For more on uncovering a makerspace that is unique and meaningful to your school community, check out my newest book!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Out of the Box Approach to Planning Makerspaces - Worlds of Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Don't think outside the box...Think like there is no box. ~ Unknown One of the most rewarding experiences in writing my second book, The Kickstart Guide to Making GREAT Makerspaces , was having the honor of being able to highlight and showcase GREAT makerspaces far and wide.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A practical guide to reinvention in American cities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
United States Patent and Trademark Office - An Agency of the Department of Commerce

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Tinkering Studio Home | Exploratorium

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Tinkering Studio team hosted a session on video sensing at Scratch Conference 2021. We...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Transforming education through play.

About

Institute of Play was a non-profit design studio founded in 2007 by a group of game designers in New York City. An interdisciplinary team of designers, strategists and learning practitioners, IoP created learning experiences rooted in the principles of game design. The Institute's research and design work has been widely featured as an innovative and accessible approach to transforming education through play.

The Institute of Play closed in 2019 but you can access their catalog of free resources here.

Failure is Reframed as Iteration

Opportunities exist for students and teachers to learn through failure. All learning experiences should embrace a process of testing and iteration.

Learning happens by doing

Learning is active and experiential. Students learn by proposing, testing, playing with, and validating theories about the world.

Challenge is Constant

A "need to know" challenges learners to solve a problem whose resources have been placed just out of reach.

In addition to the resources found on this page, the Strong Museum of Play has acquired IoP's collection of digital and physical artifacts, which they will make available to researchers soon.

Learn how to design your own learning game!

This game design resource provides tools and templates for designing a learning game.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Institute of Play at the Connected Learning Alliance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Institute of Play was a non-profit design studio founded in 2007 by a group of game designers in New York City. An interdisciplinary team of designers, strategists and learning practitioners, IoP created learning experiences rooted in the principles of game design.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Exploratorium : PIE Institute : Idea Library

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
PIE is a group of educators who share a playful and inventive approach to teaching with technology. It is an approach to teaching and learning that integrates science, art, and new learning technologies to explore and understand the inventive and unusual aspects of the world around us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Tinkering Studio is primarily an R&D laboratory on the floor of the Exploratorium, but whenever possible we try to share our projects, activities, and developing ideas following an "open source" model. Learn how you too can enjoy our activities in your kitchen, garage, classroom, and community.

# data[].attributes.headline
Nimuno's Lego Tape Turns Anything Into A Lego-Friendly Surface

# data[].attributes.subject
Nimuno's Lego Tape Turns Anything Into A Lego-Friendly Surface

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lego compatible tape is such a great idea, we're amazed it's not an official Lego product already.

Nimuno's Lego tape is an adhesive plastic strip with Lego bumps on one side. It allows you to turn anything into a Lego compatible surface, from walls to toys to your own body.

This video shows the product in action.

The tape is being crowdfunded on Indiegogo, where you can order a couple of rolls for $11. Nimuno already reached its original goal with a month to go, so this toy is clearly as popular as you'd expect.

READ MORE:

ALSO WATCH: Flexo makes Legos bendable

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a staff writer at the Daily Dot, covering geek culture and fandom. Elsewhere, she co-hosts the pop culture podcast Overinvested, and appears as a film and TV critic on BBC radio.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This Lego tape turns anything into a Lego-friendly surface-and it's ridiculously cheap

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lego compatible tape is such a great idea, we're amazed it's not an official Lego product already. Nimuno's Lego tape is an adhesive plastic strip with Lego bumps on one side. It allows you to turn anything into a Lego compatible surface, from walls to toys to your own body.

# data[].attributes.headline
Learn at SparkFun Electronics - learn.sparkfun.com

# data[].attributes.subject
Learn at SparkFun Electronics - learn.sparkfun.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bringing make education to today's classrooms

SparkFun's Department of Education uses electronics as a creative medium and hands-on learning tool, with products and curriculum designed to develop foundational skills for students to explore the world of electronics, increase investment, and ownership in education, and plant the seeds of inventorship in today's youth.

Upcoming classes
No upcoming events.
Check back soon!

Are you an educator interested in SparkFun?

We have an education website dedicated to providing educators with curriculum, professional development, kits/materials, and other resources about maker education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learn at SparkFun Electronics - learn.sparkfun.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
SparkFun's Department of Education uses electronics as a creative medium and hands-on learning tool, with products and curriculum designed to develop foundational skills for students to explore the world of electronics, increase investment, and ownership in education, and plant the seeds of inventorship in today's youth. No upcoming events.

# data[].attributes.headline
Education News, Reviews and More | Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers

# data[].attributes.subject
Education News, Reviews and More | Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Education News, Reviews and More | Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hands-on and project-based learning is making waves in the traditional education system for students and educators alike. Consider yourself a lifelong learner? Explore below for new ideas and information to discover!

# data[].attributes.headline
Remake Learning – Remake Learning is a network of people, projects, and organizations in the greater Pittsburgh region that are empowering children and youth by creating relevant learning opportunities through the compelling use of technology, media, and the arts.

# data[].attributes.subject
Remake Learning – Remake Learning is a network of people, projects, and organizations in the greater Pittsburgh region that are empowering children and youth by creating relevant learning opportunities through the compelling use of technology, media, and the arts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Future of Learning in the Pittsburgh Region

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You've read about the maker movement. You've seen the posts with 3D printers, laser cutters, and three-axis mills in shiny new labs. And you want your students to start making, too. But you've got one big problem: you don't have a full lab -- or even a 3D printer -- because, like many educators, you don't have the biggest budget. Maybe you have no budget at all.

But what if you could get started making tomorrow and didn't need all the fancy tools to join this movement? Making starts with a mindset, and simple materials are all that you need to get started. There are resources all around you, materials hidden in plain sight, tools just waiting to be used for a creative purpose. And with a little dose of ingenuity, you'll have your students making in no time.

One perfect way start making on the cheap is through upcycling, the intentional transformation of hard-to-recycle materials into new products, thus saving them from the landfill. This type of real-world project not only teaches making skills but also helps you integrate making into your subject area. Study material science, explore industrial design, or dig into environmental education. As an added bonus, a project like this ignites your students' entrepreneurial spirit.

Here's the five-step strategy that I've used to get my students making products out of hard-to-recycle materials. These steps could be done in one class period each, but if you want more time for ideas and iteration, feel free to expand the timeline as you go. Expect a beautiful mess, a bit of chaos, and a lot of fun as your students start to save the landfills -- by design.

1. Gather Tools and Materials

You can gather your own materials or, as I prefer, have your students source their own. I find that bike tubes, fabric scraps, sewing supplies, scissors, craft punches, glue, staples, and cardboard are easiest to work with, but feel free to use other materials. For example, old fire hoses from the local fire station, flat tubes from the bike shop, old wetsuits, bottle caps, and corks are all very workable materials. Have your students use these material property sheets or this EPA site on common waste materials as a background research project while they are collecting supplies. If you want to go even deeper into the waste bin, check out by Edward Humes to see the journey of our trash.

2. The Design Cycle: Brainstorm, Iterate, Refine

Now you need to get some ideas on the table as to what your students could make. Design thinking is a great way to start, and Stanford University's d.school has a bunch of great resources. If you have time, I like to use their Gift-Giving Project with an upcycling focus. If your time is limited, use some of these brainstorming ideas:

Check out this Brainstorming at the d.school video.

I've created a set of printable Create Cards. Each student lays down a card from three different areas -- materials, location, and action -- and then students brainstorm products based on that combination.

Refine the idea. Once they have some ideas, I like to use the 635 Method to help refine each idea.

3. Prototype, Iterate, Evaluate

Here's the messy fun step where your students get to make one of their best ideas. It won't (and shouldn't) be pretty at first. Help them take risks, cut it too short, try again, get advice, and have no fear of "doing it wrong," because there's no wrong when we prototype. If they're still at a loss, direct them to some upcycling sites like Uncommon Goods, Green Guru, or Alchemy for inspiration. This can be done over multiple class periods or just one, depending how far you want to take the iterative process.

4. Fail, Iterate, Make Some More

No one wants to fail, but "fail" isn't a bad word. It's a good word representing a necessary part of the process. Building a mindset is one of best things to focus on, so help your student feel comfortable with failures that lead to success. Like all maker activities, upcycling isn't about pretty end results. It's about the process. Help students fail fast, learn from it, iterate, and try it again. Have them ask friends for help and give them thoughts when needed. Even better, tell them that you don't know either (gasp!), but that you can both try learning together. Overall, have fun and be creative. And make sure to leave at least ten minutes for cleanup at the end of each class!

5. Pitch, Pick, Produce

This final step can be skipped if you run out of time, but it's a great way to celebrate student efforts and even take a product to market. The gist is showing and telling their product idea with a short elevator pitch presentation. The best product (such as my students' bike tube wallet) can then be selected and manufactured for sale in your school or community. To take it even farther, have your students start to think like a startup and evaluate their idea using a Business Model Canvas (PDF) -- an alternative to a business plan.

If you still have time and want to go even deeper download a free upcycling curriculum with a bunch more ideas for getting your students making through upcycling.

Please share your own upcycling experiences in the comments section below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You've read about the maker movement. You've seen the posts with 3D printers, laser cutters, and three-axis mills in shiny new labs. And you want your students to start making, too. But you've got one big problem: you don't have a full lab -- or even a 3D printer -- because, like many educators, you don't have the biggest budget.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Maker Movement has been moving at a rapid pace for many years now. Over the last 2-3 years, it's been starting to really take hold in schools and libraries specifically. I love looking at our daily Twitter feed and seeing schools all across the world making over rooms that have gone to waste so they can convert them into makerspaces. It's a true recycling program. It's also fascinating to hear about the process each school or library goes thru in designing their makerspace because each location is unique and every budget tight. I personally love it when the students or end users are involved in the design or planning process. This gives them a vested interest in the project and makes them want it to succeed along with the school. If you're in the process of making a makerspace or if you have one already set up, we would love to see it. Please tweet us photos at @Makerspaces_com along with any questions you may have.

The best thing about a makerspace is making things and learning along the way! Here are some great sites to help you find your next maker project. Where else do you go to find inspiration for your makerspace projects? Let us know in the comment section and continue the discussion.
Makezine Club Craftsman Instructables DIY.org Thingiverse Hackaday
Follow @Makerspaces_com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Maker Websites Perfect For A Makerspace | Makerspaces.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Maker Movement has been moving at a rapid pace for many years now. Over the last 2-3 years, it's been starting to really take hold in schools and libraries specifically. I love looking at our daily Twitter feed and seeing schools all across the world making over rooms that have gone to waste so they can convert them into makerspaces.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
FREE Download- Makerspace Materials Supply List

One of the most common questions we get is in regards to buying makerspace materials. There are a ton of products and supplies out there and it can be overwhelming to pick the right ones especially if you are just starting out. One of the first steps you should do before spending any money is to talk with the people who will be using your makerspace. Some schools and libraries have done formal or informal surveys to capture this data. These surveys can help to determine what projects and areas of interest people are most excited about. But always remember that one of the best parts of maker education is discovery. It's good to have items that people know they like but always make sure to include projects and products they've never used before. Makerspaces are a great way to help students discover new interests and potential career paths.

The list below contains a lot of great products that are makerspace friendly. They are ranked in no particular order and are all worth checking out.

Products

Makey Makey - an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple invention kit for beginners and experts doing art, engineering, and everything in between.

littleBits - These are electronic building blocks that connect using magnets. These blocks allow you to create inventions large and small. Each bit is color-coded and has a distinct function. Great for developing critical thinking and fostering teamwork.

- Robot blocks that are connected together using magnets. No coding experience is needed. Snap the robot blocks together and the magnetic faces do the rest. Every unique arrangement creates a new robot with different behaviors.

Circuit Stickers (Chibitronics) - Build circuits without soldering. Circuit stickers are reusable LED stickers that allow you to create paper circuits with any material that is conductive such as copper tape or electric paint. There are a variety of sensors and add-ons available.

- An app-controlled robotic ball that can be programmed. The SPRK Lighting Lab app empowers anyone to program their robot. The visual block-based building interface makes learning the basics of programming easy and fun.

Squishy Circuits - Create circuits safely and easily by using conductive and insulating play dough. Fun way to teach the basics of electrical circuits. Bring creations to life by adding LEDs, buzzers and motors. The dough can be made using everyday ingredients.

- Great for all ages especially those students in preschool, elementary and middle school. Lego blocks can be integrated in a variety of subjects and are great hands-on learning tools. Lego Education has curriculum for all grades. Perfect for engineering units.

Snap Circuits - As the name implies, Snap Circuit parts are modular based and snap together to form a variety of circuits and projects. Use the provided guide to make items such as FM radios, voice recorders, alarms, doorbells and more. Fun and easy way to learn about electronics and circuits.

- This material is great for prototyping structures or for use in making squishy circuits. Making squishy circuits with Play-Doh is an easy and safe way to learn about circuits and electricity. This is also a perfect way to incorporate the Arts or STEAM into projects.

Goldie Blox - Award-winning construction toys designed for girls. Through the integration of storytelling and STEM principles these products help to encourage more females to choose an engineering career path. Kits for all ages from preschool to adult.

- This is an open source construction platform where you can make a variety of robotic units ranging from a rover to a drone using modular parts. These kits provide hands-on learning for all ages and skills levels.

- Robots that make learning to code fun and easy. These are real robots that teach kids programming while they play. Make the robots sing, dance and navigate obstacles using the free apps via a tablet or smartphone. Great for robotics competitions.

- An easy to assemble, snap together toy that teaches students about modular design and geometric shapes. This is a great construction toy alternative that provides a fun way to create small and large structures. Great for developing engineering skills.

Lego Mindstorms - Programmable robotics construction set that enables you to build, program and control custom built LEGO robots. Kits contain software, hardware sensors and motors. The latest system is called the Mindstorms EV3 which allows you to create 17 robots.

- Snap together rod and connector building system. Sets include wheels, gears, pulleys, rods and K'NEX connectors that allow for unlimited creative construction. You can design and build everything from roller coasters to vehicles.

- Education edition is an open-world game that promotes creativity, collaboration and problem solving in an immersive environment. The virtual game enables players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D generated world.

- A free educational programming language that was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scratch is designed to be fun, educational and easy to learn. Create interactive stories, games, art, simulations and more using block-based programming.

Raspberry Pi - A low cost, high-performance computer that was developed for computer science education. It plugs into a computer monitor and uses a standard keyboard. It enables people to program in languages such as Scratch or Python.

- Is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for anyone making interactive projects. Arduino senses the environment by receiving inputs from sensors and can control lights, motors and actuators.

VEX Robotics - A classroom robotics platform for middle school, high school and beyond. Used in robotics competitions, students can design and build a robot to play against other teams. It's a great way to incorporate game-based engineering education.

- Snap together 3D toy system invented by a former teacher and engineer. Kits includes snap-fit components such as gears, pulleys, motors, solar panels and more. Also included is a series of activity books and software.

- Smart, small programmable robot that operates with autonomous behavior using a photo sensor array. Robot is controlled via an app and can detect colors, lights and patterns. Other sensors on the robot include infrared proximity sensing.

Keva Planks - Wooden planks designed to allow students to design and build structures such as towers, bridges, catapults and more. Keva planks are a great solo or teamwork STEAM activity and help to encourage critical thinking skills.

Bee-Bot / Blue-Bot - Robot designed for use by young children. Colorfully designed, easy to operate and friendly looking little robot was designed to teaching sequencing, estimation and problem solving. Includes a robot docking station for charging and curriculum for school.

- A hands-on platform for kids to build, collaborate and tell stories through video game creation. This is a video game development platform with easy-to-use physical and digital tools. Students decide what the game looks like and how it is played.

- Is an open source, Arduino based Nanosatellite based on the CubeSat standard. It contains a set of Arduino boards and sensors. It is the first open source satellite which provides access to space. Choose from a number of projects to perform on their Experiment Hub.

Hummingbird Robotics - Turn anything into a light-up, moving, sensing robot. Kits allow for the creation of everything from kinetic sculptures to animatronic robots. Included in some kits are LEDs, motors, servos and sensors.

HyperDuino - This kit has everything needed to make interactive maker projects. Add lights and sensors to school projects, models and art installations. The HyperDuino can control a maximum of 12 LEDs and 12 touch sensors.

- Cardboard construction system for 21st century thinking,making and play. Recycle cardboard into amazing creations. Makedo is a simple to use system of tools and connectors for re-purposing cardboard into everything from costumes to vehicles.

Intel Edison - An ultra small computing platform that will allow you to work with embedded electronics. High speed processor with WiFi and Bluetooth on board. It's low power and small footprint make it ideal for maker projects.

Magformers - Geometric magnetic building toys for children. Building blocks contain neodymium magnets and have a patented "always attracting" contact point. Create complex or simple structures or vehicles using specific kits. Durable construction.

- Sells educational kits and class packs that range from solar walking robot to a robotic arm to a salt water fuel cell vehicle. Kits contain step by step directions with no solder assembly and some have class curriculum included.

Kinetic Sand - Great medium for creating and molding incredible sand art. Kinetic Sand sticks to itself and not to your hands and is easily cleaned up. Helps to stimulate creative skills by allowing makers to create anything they can imagine. It's reusable and doesn't dry out.

- Prototyping toy for makers of all ages. Strawbees allows you to connect straws to each other and build small to large mechanical objects. You can always modify projects as you go because connectors are not permanent and can be adjusted.

Electric Paint - Bare Conductive - Electrically conductive paint and sensor hardware that allows makers to create circuits on almost any material including paper, wood, plastic and glass. Perfect for small scale projects, prototyping, interactive art and more.

Circuit Scribe - Draw circuits on paper using circuit scribe conductive ink pen. Explore basic circuit concepts by drawing conductive drawings and creating paper-based switches. You are able to connect a variety of outputs to these circuits such as LEDs, motors and buzzers.

- Modular building system of oversized plastic blocks that facilitates the construction of all types of objects. Anything constructed can be easily taken apart and re-assembled again. No tools are required to install or disassemble blocks.

- Green screen software that makes it easy to create incredible videos and images on your smartphone or tablet. The app lets you combine photos and videos with an easy to use interface. Tell a story or creation a school production.

- World's first mouldable glue that sticks permanently to materials like ceramics, glass, metal, wood and most plastics. Sugru turns into a durable, flexible silicone rubber that stays in place. Cures in 24 hours into durable rubber. Waterproof, flexible, heat and cold resistant.

LilyPad Switch - A simple push button or slide switch that can be soldered, sewn or taped to circuits. Use as a on/off switch to control LEDs, buzzers, sensors and more. Switch is small enough to be integrated into wearable maker projects. It is even washable.

Google Cardboard - VR - A virtual reality platform developed by Google. The cardboard display works with your smartphone and utilizes the cardboard app to help you put VR content in your hands. There are videos and content created to work with this VR display.

Hobby Motor - DC - These 130 size hobby motors can be used in a variety of interactive makerspace projects. They have a low voltage and generally operate in the 4.5 to 9VDC range. This range makes them perfect for using with Arduino

Finch Robot - The Finch is a small robot designed for learning computer science and coding. It provides students with a physical representation of their code. On-board features include accelerometers, light and obstacle sensors.

- Educational robots with the goal of making learning robotics easy, fun and open source. They offer a few different types of robots including Hexy the Hexapod and Sparki which was designed for use in classrooms. Learn about advanced robotics and servo operation.

LEGO Wall Baseplate - Build a LEGO wall in your makerspace by utilizing baseplates and connectors. These can also be used on horizontal surfaces such as custom LEGO tables. These baseplates are usually glued in place

- Educational toy that teaches kids how to build circuits, learn to code and be inventive. Kits include magnetic circuit blocks that snap together. Use the drag and drop programming interface to control your creations and creative projects.

- The PLY90 is a connector that is a faster, better looking alternative to drilling and screwing projects together. These brackets are made from high strength aluminum alloy and can be quickly disassembled for moving or recycling projects.

Vibration Motor - These vibrating motors are great for creating bristlebots. These bots are super fun to build and then race in your makerspace. You can also take apart an electric toothbrush to find one of these motors.

Piezo Buzzer - These buzzers can be added to a wide range of projects. Piezo elements convert vibration to voltage or voltage to vibration. This means you can use this buzzer for making beeps or use it as a sensor.

Plastic Syringe w Tubing - This is a great material to help with the study of hydraulics in action. Using a syringe and tubing you can create a hydraulic arm that operates with just air or liquids under pressure. This is a great way to help visualize how the system works.

Sewable Battery Holder - If you are working on wearable maker projects, this sewable battery holder is one of the easiest ways to help power your project. This holder is meant to be used with (1) CR2032 coin cell battery

- A building kit for hands-on free play and learning. It's a collection of solid wooden planks, wheels, pulleys, nuts, bolts and rope designed to engage the creative spirit in children. There is no wrong way to assemble the parts.

Alligator Clips - Double-ended alligator clips are very useful in a variety of applications. You can use them for testing and prototyping.

Consumable Materials

Painter's Tape

Transparent Tape

Wood Craft Sticks

Plastic Drinking Straws

Paper Clips

Binder Clips

Hook & Loop (Velcro)

Paper Cups & Plates

EVA Foam Sheets

Foam Board

Batteries

Rubber Bands

LEDs

Conductive Copper Tape

Double-Sided Tape

Fishing Line

Bamboo Skewers

Balsa Wood

Altoids Tins

80/20 Aluminum Extrusion

Solder ( Lead Free)

Super Glue

Gorilla Glue

Hot Glue Sticks

Spray Adhesive

Toothpicks

Instamorph - (Moldable Plastic)

PVC Pipe

Acrylic Paint

Zip Ties

String / Yarn

Fabric

Brass Fasteners

Paper ( Craft/Construction)

Chipboard

Get The FREE Makerspace Materials Supply List

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
100+ Makerspace Materials & Products w/ Supply List - Makerspaces.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
FREE Download- Makerspace Materials Supply List One of the most common questions we get is in regards to buying makerspace materials. There are a ton of products and supplies out there and it can be overwhelming to pick the right ones especially if you are just starting out.

# data[].attributes.headline
Create an Amazing Low-tech Library Makerspace

# data[].attributes.subject
Create an Amazing Low-tech Library Makerspace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Unless you live under a rock or are completely off the grid when it comes to technology, you're probably aware of the maker movement. However, if you need a refresher, I made an infographic. The maker movement is such an exciting time for students and teachers alike! Yet, while a part of you is excited, the other part of you is flooded with the reasons why you just can't start a makerspace right now.

"I have no money."

"I'm just not super comfortable with technology."

"We don't have devices at my school."

"I don't have the space."

"I don't have the schedule that allows me to teach the kids how to do the stuff."

I find this to be incredibly unfortunate. Not unfortunate in that I wish you had more money and were more comfortable with technology (although I sympathize), but unfortunate in that you think you need both of those to start a makerspace. With the massive amount of information out there about makerspaces, somewhere along the way, the term "maker" became synonymous with words like "3-D printing" and "robots."

My husband loves woodworking and I like building computers. Am I more of a "maker" than he is? Am I being less of a maker when I use zip-ties and soda caps to fix my son's toy car rather than 3-D printing a replacement part? Absolutely not!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Create an Amazing Low-tech Library Makerspace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Unless you live under a rock or are completely off the grid when it comes to technology, you're probably aware of the maker movement. However, if you need a refresher, I made an infographic. The maker movement is such an exciting time for students and teachers alike!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." ― Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics Let's have a little fun and give design thinking a try. This exercise is modeled after the Stanford Design School's (d.school) Wallet Project 90-minute workshop.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Promises, Practices, and Pedagogies of Maker-Centered Learning: An Updated Preview of the Findings from the Agency by Design Project | Agency by Design

# data[].attributes.subject
The Promises, Practices, and Pedagogies of Maker-Centered Learning: An Updated Preview of the Findings from the Agency by Design Project | Agency by Design

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When we launched the Agency by Design website early last year, we also released a white paper previewing the findings from our investigation of the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning. At the time, we had developed the two key concepts of maker empowerment and sensitivity to design, and we had also conceived of the three maker capacities that lie at the heart of our framework for maker-centered learning: looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity. But we had not yet finished analyzing the data we had collected in a way that allowed us to answer our primary research questions.

A year and a half later, we are happy to report that we have completed that work. In our forthcoming book Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds, we fully describe what we have come to understand as the most salient benefits of maker-centered learning, as well as the practices and pedagogies that maker educators use to bring about those effects. In the spirit of sharing new ideas, here we present a preview of our findings in response to our first two research questions:

1. How do maker educators and leaders in the field think about the benefits and outcomes of maker-centered learning experiences?

2. What are some of the key characteristics of the educational environments and instructional designs under which maker-centered learning thrives?

Understanding the Primary and Secondary Outcomes and Benefits of Maker-Centered Learning
While the popular narrative in the media suggests that the driving force behind maker-centered learning is an interest in developing young people's proficiency in the STEM subjects, our investigation of the promises, practices, and pedagogies associated with maker-centered learning revealed a much more nuanced story. This inquiry took many forms, including qualitative interviews with maker educators and thought leaders in the field, site visits to a variety of maker-centered learning environments, and an ongoing process of co-inquiry with a cohort of educators in Oakland, California. As one may imagine, each of these strands of inquiry surfaced a wealth of rich and varied data. After analyzing this data, we came to understand that the primary outcomes and benefits of maker-centered learning were developing agency and building character, whereas the secondary benefits of maker-centered learning included the development of discipline-specific knowledge and skills and maker-specific knowledge and skills.

The distinction between these two sets of outcomes can be described in terms of the difference between developing dispositions and developing knowledge and skills. We learned that maker educators thought of the primary outcomes of maker-centered learning as being disposition-based. In other words, relating to how one sees her world or makes meaning of her experiences. By contrast, the secondary benefits of maker-centered learning can be described as being more capacity-based and involved developing discipline- or maker-specific knowledge and skills. Examples of capacity-based outcomes of maker-centered learning span the STEM subjects, such as developing a working understanding of a particular science, engineering, or math principle like Ohm's law, iso-elasticity, or fractals; the humanities, such as becoming proficient in the use of a particular literary device, like foreshadowing, metaphor, or the skillful application of onomatopoeia; and more maker-specific content areas, such as becoming proficient in the use of a tool like a soldering iron or a coding platform like Scratch.

Starting with the primary outcomes associated with maker-centered learning, the table below indicates how the maker educators and thought leaders we spoke with discussed agency in two different ways. First, in terms of stuff making and second, in terms of community making. The distinction here is between developing agency in regards to building tangible objects and systems, and developing agency in regards to positively effecting change within one's community.

While the maker educators and thought leaders we spoke with discussed agency in terms of stuff making and community making, they discussed character building as a form of self making. Here, we heard the participants in our study suggest that maker-centered learning helps young people develop competence and confidence as a maker, which in turns leads to establishing an identity as a maker. We also heard the maker educators we spoke with discuss the character building that happens in the maker-centered classroom in terms of general thinking dispositions. These thinking dispositions are not unlike the 21st Century Skills we hear so much about today, that include learning and innovation skills which range from resilience and persistence to empathy and perspective taking.

As we write in Maker-Centered Learning: "In addition to the disposition-based outcomes of agency and character, the participants in our study identified two sets of maker-centered learning outcomes that have less to do with supporting students as they develop a new way of seeing themselves in the world and more to do with providing students with new knowledge and skills. These capacity-based outcomes include cultivating discipline-specific knowledge and skills and cultivating maker-specific knowledge and skills. The educators we spoke with viewed these capacity-based outcomes as important but as secondary to the disposition-based outcomes discussed above. Cultivating discipline-specific knowledge and skills and maker-specific knowledge and skills, however, does not occur separately from cultivating the disposition-based outcomes discussed previously; rather, the participants in our study viewed these capacity-based outcomes as being instrumental to developing agency and character."
Strategies for Teaching and Learning in the Maker-Centered Classroom
Beyond understanding what maker educators and thought leaders in the field viewed as being the primary and secondary outcomes and benefits of maker-centered learning, we were also interested in understanding what strategies these individuals employed to achieve their learning goals.

The table below provides an overview of these strategies as they pertain to four key questions:

Who (and what) are the teachers in the maker-centered classroom?

What does teaching look like in the maker-centered classroom?

What does learning look like in the maker-centered classroom?

What does the maker-centered classroom look like?

As this table suggests, teaching and learning in the maker-centered classroom is highly distributed. Not only do educators and learners play many different roles, they also may include individuals who are not in the classroom at all-such as local experts or participants in any variety of online communities-or may include inanimate objects-such as tools, materials, or digital information-that are not often thought of as "teachers."

Both teaching and learning in the maker-centered classroom highlight the importance of learning with and from others, with an emphasis placed on sharing knowledge, expertise, and information. There is an added element of figuring it out that takes place in the maker-centered classroom-wherein young people are encouraged to tinker, prototype, iterate, and experiment throughout the making and learning process.

While exploring the various decisions educators make when they design their maker-centered classrooms to achieve their learning goals, we also surfaced a number of tensions. As the above table indicates, these tensions revolve around the decisions maker educators make concerning tools and materials, storage, and the designated use of space for certain purposes (or multiple purposes). Ultimately, we learned that there is no one way-and certainly no right way-to design a maker-centered classroom. Instead, we found that maker-centered learning environments are as varied as the many different things that are made within them.

Our forthcoming book explores each of these topics in greater depth; our goal here has been to provide a window into what we have learned about the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning, after three years of talking to maker educators from around the country and visiting dozens of maker-centered learning environments. Of course, we're curious to know what you think. To what degree do the findings discussed in this blog post resonate with your own understandings of the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning? And where do you see differences?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Promises, Practices, and Pedagogies of Maker-Centered Learning: An Updated Preview of the Findings from the Agency by Design Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When we launched the Agency by Design website early last year, we also released a white paper previewing the findings from our investigation of the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning.

# data[].attributes.headline
14 Catapults for Kids to Create and Experiment With - Fun-A-Day!

# data[].attributes.subject
14 Catapults for Kids to Create and Experiment With - Fun-A-Day!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There's just something fulfilling in sending an object hurtling through the air, don't you agree? Well, even if you don't, something tells me some of the kiddos you know would agree with me. Why not channel that interest into these amazing catapults for kids!?

Ideas and Activities for Catapults for Kids

In addition to being an exciting experience, catapults lead to so much thinking and learning! Fine motor skills, science, and math are just a few subjects that catapults help children learn about. Have you and your kiddos ever made one, or played with one? If not, here are 14 FUN ideas to try!

The Educators' Spin On It created a trebuchet (a type of catapult) using a tinker box kit.

Therapy Fun Zone used clothespin catapults during a learning game.

We used a catapult to create art over the summer.

JDaniel4's Mom used a coffee can to make a catapult.

Kids Activities Blog made an easy catapult with just a few materials from around the house.

Science Sparks experimented with elasticity while making a catapult.

Housing a Forest used a vintage clothespin and a spoon to create a catapult for packing peanuts.

Toddler Approved created a catapult out of pool noodles.

JDaniel4's Mom put together an egg carton catapult.

3 Dinosaurs used cardboard tubes to craft a catapult.

Mama.Papa.Bubba shared directions for a kid-made LEGO catapult.

Frugal Fun for Boys built 4 different catapults from household materials, then used them to launch candy corn.

Child Central Station painted in the snow using catapults.

Which of these catapults for kids would you like to try out first? So many choices - I'm not sure I could narrow it down!

If you enjoyed these ideas, you might want to check these out, too -

Materials for the Catapults

There are some really amazing STEM activities in this list. But, perhaps the children want to come up with their own catapult designs. Check out this list of materials for some inspiration.

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

What are your favorite STEM materials? Let us know in the comments below!

Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week, all while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life, can be a daunting task. That's where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!

Preschool Teacher 101 is excited to share with you some amazing lesson plans, activity packs, and much more! We offer a wide variety of themes that are frequently used in preschool classrooms, as well as some less common (but super interesting) themes. Click on the image below to learn more about some of our favorite STEM product offerings!

My Community STEM Challenges

World Bridges STEM Challenges

Full World Structures Pack

Join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 today for exclusive access to our amazing products. And we even have three different membership options to suit your needs!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A collect of catapults for kids to make and learn with! Children can design and create their own catapults. Playful learning activities with catapults!

# data[].attributes.headline
The 'Maker' Movement Is Coming to K-12: Can Schools Get It Right? - Education Week

# data[].attributes.subject
The 'Maker' Movement Is Coming to K-12: Can Schools Get It Right? - Education Week

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For fans of hands-on, student-driven learning, the migration of maker education into the highly regulated world of K-12 education is a step in the right direction. But how well will it work?

The maker movement is going mainstream, migrating from museums, garages, and informal "faires" into the highly regulated world of K-12 education.

For fans of hands-on, student-driven learning, the shift presents an opportunity to breathe fresh life into old teaching philosophies.

And for the maker community, too often focused on the interests of middle-class white men and boys, the move into public schools marks a chance to diversify.

But as districts rush to embrace the trend, some key observers are also worried.

Can schools, with their standards, state tests, and bell schedules, maintain the do-it-yourself, only-if-you-want-to ethos that fueled making's popularity in the first place?

"There's an amazing grassroots effort underway to bring the maker movement into education," said Dale Dougherty, the founder of MAKE magazine and godfather of the modern maker phenomenon. "But if schools don't get the spirit of it, I don't think it will benefit them a whole lot."

Undoubtedly, making is having a moment. Beginning June 17, the White House will host its second National Week of Making. The U.S. Department of Education is supporting efforts to rethink career and technical education through the creation of high school maker spaces. And nonprofit advocacy groups such as Digital Promise and Dougherty's Maker Education Initiative are encouraging districts to champion making inside their schools.

For all the excitement, though, there are also hurdles.

One of the biggest: "Maker education" itself is a highly squishy concept.

In general, the term refers to hands-on activities that support academic learning and promote experimentation, collaboration, and a can-do mindset. But in practice, educators use "making" to describe everything from formal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curricula to project-based classroom lessons to bins of crafting materials on a shelf in the library.

As a result, it's difficult to say how many schools have adopted a maker approach, and their efforts are often messy. Two unresolved tensions loom especially large:

Should making happen primarily in a dedicated space or inside every classroom? And is the purpose of maker education to help students better learn the established curriculum or to upend traditional notions of what counts as real learning?

For now, at least, schools are well-served to take an all-of-the-above approach, said Pamela Moran, the superintendent of the 14,000-student Albemarle County, Va., schools and a national leader in maker education.

"Some people approach making by building a curriculum and defining experiences and attaching it to workforce development," Moran said. "We've tended to let the work evolve up organically. The result is I can see making happening in any of our schools on any given day. But we've also got teachers who are on very different points of the continuum."

On a warm April afternoon, signs of what maker education can be are evident throughout Albemarle's 1,100-student Monticello High.

In 2011, the school converted its quiet library into something that now resembles a hipster co-working space. Students staff a technology help desk, work independently in a "writer's cafe," and putter in an open work space with circuits, programmable microprocessors, and art supplies.

More recently, the school has focused on pushing making into other parts of the building. Now, a woodshop-turned-engineering lab is full of teenagers on laptops working intently on projects such as developing a first-person shooter video game. Their introductory computer science course is built around a simple question: What do you want to create?

Upstairs, meanwhile, 16-year old Ray Thomas sits in front of a microphone and monitor, using his audio-production class to finish a new rap song.

"I have a hard time focusing, but this class kind of calms me down and keeps me motivated," Thomas said. "There's lots of reasons I can come up with not to come to school, but then I'm like, 'No, I have to finish my song.'"

It's all music to the ears of Jesse Turner, Monticello's bowtie-clad principal.

The whole point of maker education, Turner said, is to find new ways to engage students, especially those who have struggled to find a comfortable place inside school.

It's a belief increasingly borne out by research.

Academics have consistently found that making "gives kids agency" over their learning in ways that traditional classes often don't, said Erica Halverson, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There's also mounting evidence that making is a good way to teach academic content. "The fear out there is that schools have to choose between making and academic work, but empirically that turns out not to be true," Halverson said.

As schools like Monticello High embrace maker education, equity is also becoming a priority.

It hasn't always been the movement's strong suit: A 2013 analysis, for example, found that MAKE magazine overwhelmingly portrayed making as involving middle-class white men and boys working with electronics, vehicles, robots, and rockets.

But now, activities such as sewing and ceramics are also being recognized as forms of making. New attention is being paid to designing spaces that are welcoming for girls, students of color, and immigrant and refugee students.

And many observers believe such developments are likely to accelerate. To date, for example, hundreds of districts have signed a Maker Promise promoted by nonprofit Digital Promise and the Maker Education Initiative, one of a number of signs that point to the potentially rapid growth of making in K-12.

At its root, the trend is being fueled by widespread fatigue with high-stakes standardized testing. The administration of President Barack Obama has also provided a policy boost, giving strong backing to STEM and computer science education and the redesign of schools. The sudden affordability of technologies such as 3-D printers, sensors, microprocessors, and laser cutters have exponentially expanded access to the tools for making.

And, perhaps most importantly, the maker movement has also tapped into a deep desire among many educators to return to the type of instruction that drew them to teaching in the first place.

Although the convergence of those factors has led to a flourishing of maker-related activity in places such as Albemarle County, schools are still wrestling with the tensions that result from bringing a defiantly informal movement into a highly regulated system.

At Monticello High, for example, only a small number of students can use the new engineering lab, thanks to federal regulations limiting the number of students who can be in a such a space at a given time. And while students such as Thomas love audio production, they lament that other classes aren't nearly as hands-on.

Even Principal Turner acknowledged that it's been difficult to spread making beyond an enthusiastic group of early adopters.

"People are trying," he said. "But I'd say only about 10 percent [of Monticello teachers] are bringing maker ed. into their classrooms on a consistent basis." And that's at one of the district's most-advanced making schools.

Twelve miles across the county, at Baker-Butler Elementary, the challenges are even more pronounced.

During the 2013-14 school year, the 600-student school started by converting a computer lab into a maker space-only to find that teachers and students rarely used the room.

Not long after, librarian Anita Mays began collecting everything from LEGOs to circuit kits to seashells for students to use on self-directed maker projects-only to find out that many of the children weren't sure how to get started.

And second-year Principal Stephen Saunders sounded decidedly conflicted when describing his school's efforts to make "making" make sense.

"At the end of the day, what I care most about is that these kids know how to multiply and can tell the difference between Greece and Rome," Saunders said. "If making is a way to get them there, then we'll use that as a tool."

That's a far cry from educational vision that Dougherty of MAKE hopes to promote. Standards-based instruction isn't working for most students, he believes, and schools need to be fundamentally reorganized.

"Will that happen? Probably not," Doughtery said. "But if we allow this movement to become, 'OK, everyone gets a period of making, and it's this formulaic thing where everyone is treated basically the same,' I think we've lost an opportunity."

Moran and her team aren't discouraged, however. Meaningful change takes time, the superintendent said, and it can't be mandated from above.

So at Baker-Butler, when 2nd graders work on structured "maker challenges" instead of self-directed projects, it's seen not as a failure, but as a start.

When Saunders talks about a teacher-led unit in which students learned about Egypt by building sarcophagi, it's treated not as a shortcoming, but as a step in the process.

And when Sarah Fagan's 3rd graders work in small groups to turn empty cardboard boxes into something of their own imagining, then use their creations as the basis for a collaborative creative-writing project-well, that's a sign of what's really possible once space is made for children's choices, interests, and enthusiasm.

Efforts to bring maker education into schools might be messy and uneven. But so far, at least, the process has often been characterized by enthusiasm and growth.

Ultimately, Moran said, isn't that the point?

Published in Print: June 9, 2016, as Maker Momentum

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Back to Top

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 'Maker' Movement Is Coming to K-12: Can Schools Get It Right?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The maker movement is going mainstream, migrating from museums, garages, and informal "faires" into the highly regulated world of K-12 education. For fans of hands-on, student-driven learning, the shift presents an opportunity to breathe fresh life into old teaching philosophies.

# data[].attributes.headline
Circuit Scribe Official Store: Teach Electronics by Drawing!

# data[].attributes.subject
Circuit Scribe Official Store: Teach Electronics by Drawing!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Let your creativity merge with science as you build exciting circuits using our Circuit Scribe conductive ink pen, sweet magnetic modules, and plain old printer paper. By placing the paper over a steel sheet, included in every kit, your paper becomes the base for blinking lights, beeping buzzers, and whirling motors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Circuit Scribe | Draw Your Own Circuits With Our Conductive Ink Pens

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Let your creativity merge with science as you build exciting circuits using our Circuit Scribe conductive ink pen, sweet magnetic modules, and plain old printer paper. By placing the paper over a steel sheet, included in every kit, your paper becomes the base for blinking lights, beeping buzzers, and whirling motors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1. Democratize Learning

Great makerspaces democratize learning. They make materials, supplies, and concepts available and accessible to all learners. By properly planning your makerspace, you can build an environment that levels the academic playing field for your students.

One important attribute of this inclusive learning space is that it encourages tinkering, play, and open-ended exploration for everyone. When you assess the existing curricula, programs, and offerings within your school community, it's possible to pull out concepts that are frequently taught to a select number of students and make them available and accessible to anyone who's interested.

2. Low Barrier of Entry

When a makerspace aligns its activities with the principles of creating a participatory culture, it can effectively meet all of our learners' needs. Most useful to consider is the idea of having a low barrier to artistic expression and civic engagement (PDF). This low barrier of entry into the makerspace activities will ensure that any of your students -- regardless of their academic proficiency level or even whether English is their primary language -- can begin making with very little or no teacher facilitation.

Makerspaces offering open access to materials, supplies, and easy-to-start activities will guarantee successful and independent learners while limiting frustration. Despite this low barrier of entry, it's also possible to ensure that students find challenges here with the opportunity to take their learning as far as they choose -- a student-driven learning environment.

3. Visual Cues

An effective strategy to ensure that your makerspace helps to meet all of your learners' needs is using visual cues to communicate and give necessary directions. This strategy is especially beneficial for learners who have difficulty following complicated directions or remembering instructions for extended periods of time. Effective visual cues will support your learners in becoming independent thinkers and problem solvers, even if reading skills or language stand in their way under other circumstances.

When creating signage and displays, it's important to give students enough information to motivate and inspire them, getting them started without giving them too much information, which might otherwise take away their opportunity to discover things through their making. These discoveries are sure to bolster their self-confidence, as well as increase their willingness to take risks.

4. Themes

Thematically planned makerspaces provide opportunities to meet the needs of all learners. Supporting themes in varied ways will allow you to address your students' diverse learning styles by providing a suite of multimodal materials and resources to meet better their needs. Learning-disabled children -- and all learners, really -- benefit from utilizing as many of their sensory modalities as possible.

Themes in a makerspace can also kickstart making and creativity by inspiring students and sparking ideas. They are helpful for students who might experience frustration and have trouble working with zero guidelines in place.

5. Differentiation

There are many ways to differentiate effectively in a makerspace, such as providing the materials, activities, and supplies to meet the needs of mixed-ability learners. Another strategy is to consider differentiation as you plan the physical setup of your space. Centers or workstations encourage students to collaborate with their peers. The unique learning environment of a makerspace invites students of varying abilities to work together, creating a community of learners. Because they feel equal to their peers, English-language learners, as well as students with special needs, feel welcomed in these types of spaces.

Another way to differentiate in a makerspace is by empowering students to follow their own process for making and creating, rather than attaching a prescriptive process. Your makerspace might be the only space in your school in which learners have the opportunity to take control of their learning in this way. This type of flexible, self-directed learning will empower as well as enhance all learners' unique learning abilities. A differentiated makerspace can allow students of all abilities to participate, experience success, and ultimately flourish.

Along with the traditional methods, consider personalizing a student's learning path through the use of open educational resources (OER). Because they are free, OER provide both teachers and learners with equal access to high-quality content, which can be modified and customized to meet individual needs. Students can also seek out and shape their own resources, enabling them to be able to direct their own learning.

Please tell us how a makerspace has contributed (or will contribute) to education equity at your school while opening the door to self-directed learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Makerspaces and Equal Access to Learning | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Great makerspaces democratize learning. They make materials, supplies, and concepts available and accessible to all learners. By properly planning your makerspace, you can build an environment that levels the academic playing field for your students. One important attribute of this inclusive learning space is that it encourages tinkering, play, and open-ended exploration for everyone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
© Maker Education Initiative The Maker Education Initiative is a non-profit project of the Tides Center, Tax ID: 94-3213100. Please make gifts payable to: Maker Education Initiative/Tides Center, P.O. Box 29907, San Francisco, CA 94129.

# data[].attributes.headline
The 2016 Stewart MakerFair: Featuring the Awesome MakerCave

# data[].attributes.subject
The 2016 Stewart MakerFair: Featuring the Awesome MakerCave

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 2016 Stewart MakerFair

Every year since we started our makerspace in January 2014, we've held a Maker Fair during the last conference night of the year (See our 2014 MakerFair and our 2015 MakerFair). This year's was even bigger and more awesome. We had more interactive student projects and I had more student volunteers than I knew what to do with, which is an awesome problem to have. My students pretty much ran the show and everything came together fantastically. In addition to a ton of parents, students and teachers, we also had both district library supervisors, a school board member and several media specialists and teachers from other schools visit our Makerfair. Check out the video below to get an overview of the event:

Maker Stations

One of the goals of our MakerFair is to give our guests the opportunity to try out some of the tools in our makerspace hands-on. We setup several tables, each with a different tool, and I had students on hand to help teach our guests how to use them. For our 2016 Stewart Makerfair, we had a MaKeyMaKey setup on our projector with an assortment of fruit, veggies and other conductive materials. We had another table with Cubelets, and there were some awesome helicopters and lighthouses being built. Many students got excited about making lights and buzzers go off with our littleBits and the fan launcher was a big hit with our Snap Circuits.

Make & Takes

Another focus of our MakerFair is to let our guests make something that they can take home with them. The Perler beads were an ever popular station for this - I had the iron on most of the day. (I'm actually planning a post that focuses solely on Perler beads because they're one of my students favorite activities). We had our potholder loom weaving set up, which is another big hit. A new addition this year was recycled book origami. One of my students came up with this idea and ran the station the whole night. We cut out pages from damaged and weed books and put them out with markers and origami instructions. Because origami is way more cool when it's made from books 🙂

Special Guest

As in previous years, we welcomed Tampa Hackerspace into our library for our 2016 Stewart Makerfair. They brought a 3D printer and some other cool gadgets and talked to our guests about the programs that their space offers. I am not anywhere near an expert on 3D printing, but a lot of members of our community are interested in it, so Tampa Hackerspace really helps to bridge that gap for us.

Student Projects

A major part of our 2016 Stewart Makerfair involved showcasing some of the projects that my students created during the year. We ended up highlighting four of them this year, and they're pretty awesome.

The K'nex Roller Coaster

Every year, my students love to put together our K'nex Roller Coaster kit. Yes, it is just following instructions. But they're learning teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, etc while they build it. And they often start developing their own ideas, like the multiple variations of cars they came up with. My group that put it together was so proud of what they created, and several of them stayed throughout the event to share about how they built it.

The Maker Cave

This project will be getting it's own post soon because there's so much to say about it. My after-school Stewart Makers club had been working on this one for weeks. They created a giant cave in-between two of our library stacks, made mostly out of cardboard. Since it blocked access to the books, they had to take it down and reassemble it every week. It was seriously one of the coolest things my kids made this year, and there were students hanging out in it during most of the night.

The K'nex Crossbow

This project is what kicked off our Rubber Band Launcher Challenge earlier in the year (you can actually see several more photos of it there). We launched it several times during our MakerFair and guests were able to try it out as well. If you watched the video above, you'll also get to see the accessories kit that my student built to go along with it - the base of the crossbow is modular and can attach to a scythe and trident. The whole thing has a carrying case to carry all of the parts in - made entirely out of K'nex of course 🙂

Dash vs. Sphero Obstacle Course

This was a huge hit at our MakerFair. My student created a huge, cardboard obstacle course for a game of Dash vs. Sphero. There was a whole story behind it. Apparently Sphero and Dash got into an argument, so now Sphero wants to get back at Dash by knocking Dot of his perch. But Sphero has to navigate an obstacle course first, then avoid being tagged by Dash. He has to knock down Dot and then make it back out of the obstacle course. My students got REALLY into this. We were jumping up and down, shouting and cheering for Dash and Sphero. It was way more intense than you might think it would be.

Our 2016 Stewart Makerfair was an all-around awesome event and it's definitely something that we'll continue to do every year.

Have you held a MakerFair at your school? What types of activities did you have?

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 & is also a monthly contributor to AASL Knowledge Quest. 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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 2016 Stewart MakerFair: Featuring the Awesome MakerCave & More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 2016 Stewart MakerFair Every year since we started our makerspace in January 2014, we've held a Maker Fair during the last conference night of the year (See our 2014 MakerFair and our 2015 MakerFair). This year's was even bigger and more awesome.

# data[].attributes.headline
6 Must Haves for Developing a Maker Mindset | EdSurge News

# data[].attributes.subject
6 Must Haves for Developing a Maker Mindset | EdSurge News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Flashy spaces and shiny toys in makerspaces are enticing, but it takes time and explicit scaffolding to develop a true Innovator. Building and providing the space for Making to happen is one thing; nurturing a mindset that gives students the mental tools to engage with said spaces is a much larger, and timely, endeavor.

Best defined by the research and work of Carol Dweck, Jo Boaler and Eduardo Briceno, growth mindset is the recognition of the brain as a muscle that-with practice, effort, and nurturing-can continue to grow and develop. When you think of an inventor or innovator, past or present, what descriptors come to mind? Creative. Persistent. Curious. Fearless. Passionate. But educators know that most students don't show up to your class on the first day of school exhibiting these qualities.

So how do we provide not only the physical tools but the mental tools to Make? Here are the essential pieces:

1. Give students permission to play

In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Grey argues that "free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient." Too often our education system disregards the power of play in fostering the creativity and passion that naturally exists within students. As a result, students are schooled to abandon their innate sense of curiosity and expression and trained to see the teacher as the be-all, end-all authority. Similarly, teachers will look to the administration for examples of acceptable use of class time. As educators, we often create additional pressure to "stay the course" and stick to pacing guides at the risk of being responsive to our students needs and passions; instead let's all agree to offer up permission to engage in intellectual play. To bring this theory into practice, consider the following:

Create more opportunities for collaborative brainstorming to solve problems with new ideas. Consider using a protocol such as NSRF's Wagon Wheel for collaborative brainstorming.

Provide materials and tasks such as an inventor's box to elicit outside-the-box (pun intended) thinking for the design of a new product or creation.

Allow more free-time for self exploration through mechanisms such as Genius Hour, and educators are always devising more and sharing them with #geniushour.

2. Build those Maker muscles

If you want to get better at a specific sport, you must go to practice. It's an obvious point, but it's easier to be disciplined about practicing if there are built-in structures to support such efforts. What does this look like for Making? Schools can build in structured time throughout the day for students to engage in learning activities related to their personal interests and passions. Examples of such structures include a Tinker Time or Genius Hour once a day or week for students to pursue a project of their choice. Likewise, "Choice time" or "download time" can offer students 20 minutes after lunch to explore a topic, material or activity outside the realm of classroom learning through centers and stations. Finally, Student Interest Groups are elective style classes led by school teachers based on student interest/request. Students will need frequent opportunities to try on their role of a Maker. Let's give them those chances.

3. Reflect often

To ensure that students are intellectually and emotionally engaged, it is critical to reflect on their learning while Making. Reflection is a built in "pause point," where the teacher asks students to mentally step outside the task in front of them and think about themselves as learners. Examples of reflection could include journal entries, think/pair/share discussions with a partner, listening dyads or even video blogging. By doing this students, take the time to consider the consequences of their actions, and rethink how they may approach a future challenge. "Going meta" daily will ensure that students are constantly reflecting about themselves, their behavior, their failures and celebrations. Reflection asks your students to see themselves and where they need to go.

4. Have some accountability

Yeah, I said the dirty word. To uphold the rigor of Making, there should be a purpose and final outcome for students. Schools and communities may decide to host a Maker Faire as an exhibition of student efforts, or individual teachers may decide to have some form of a gallery walk or presentation. Teachers may even chose to use a rubric such as the one developed by new Tech Network. Building in a mechanism that holds students accountable for staying on task and creating high quality work is critical to ensuring that learning-content mastery as well as intra and interpersonal learning-is happening.

5. Cultivate an appreciation for failure

It's important to not only reward creative thinking, but also to highlight and celebrate failure. Too often students view failure as something unacceptable and derogatory, and will go to great efforts to avoid it; in fact some of the greatest inventions and ideas were born out of struggle and failure. Frameworks such as Design Thinking make this acknowledgment feel natural through the initial stages of a project. Trying as many things as possible is essential to beginning any Making. It's why it has it's own name: prototyping. Celebrating failure can also happen simply through quick reflections put up on an "our favorite fail wall" or through verbal share-outs.

6. Use role models to inspire students to become Makers

Offering voice and choice in what and how students Make is critical to engagement, but so is inspiration. Students look not just to their peers but to adults for inspiration. As often as possible, students should have the chance to interact with expert Makers and see the cool stuff they are creating. Teachers, you can be these expert makers. Dive in next to your students to model what it means to become a Maker.

We must exercise the discipline to refrain from attaching too quickly to an idea just because it's new. Making is no exception, so to truly prepare ourselves to be successful in this new venture, let's be sure we set our students up to have the right mindset to be courageous innovators.

Jennifer R. Pieratt, PhD, is an educator and founder of CraftED Curriculum (@craftEDcm).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Must-Haves for Developing a Maker Mindset - EdSurge News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Flashy spaces and shiny toys in makerspaces are enticing, but it takes time and explicit scaffolding to develop a true Innovator. Building and providing the space for Making to happen is one thing; nurturing a mindset that gives students the mental tools to engage with said spaces is a much larger, and timely, endeavor.

# data[].attributes.headline
Want to Start a Makerspace at School? Tips to Get Started | MindShift | KQED News

# data[].attributes.subject
Want to Start a Makerspace at School? Tips to Get Started | MindShift | KQED News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the Maker Movement starts to gain momentum, schools that are trying to find ways to foster the do-it-yourself environment can learn a few lessons from another nexus in the universe: public libraries.

Dale Dougherty, founding editor and publisher of Make Magazine - and the de facto leader of the Maker Movement - has a vision to create a network of libraries, museums, and schools with what he calls "makerspaces" that draw on common resources and experts in each community. Libraries and museums, he said, are easier places to incorporate makerspaces than schools, because they have more space flexibility and they're trying to attract teens with their programs.

"Schools have already got the kids," Dougherty noted wryly, at the recent American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. One day during the conference, dubbed Maker Monday, focused on the Maker Movement, which emphasizes learning by engaging in tech-related projects. Two packed sessions, one standing room only, were filled with librarians clearly fascinated by the potential of attracting teens (and even parents) to Maker activities in libraries.

Schools can learn from libraries that participated in the inaugural Maker Camps last summer. The librarians speaking at ALA proffered seven lessons that apply beyond libraries to schools and other potential makerspaces.
1) KNOW YOUR SPACE.
"Why are you here?" That was one of the most common questions asked of the staff at the Make Magazine booth at the ALA. The answer: one of the hardest things for people interested in making is finding an appropriate physical space, and libraries actually have that space.

But not every space is alike, or even appropriate. Carla Avitabile of the Novato branch of the Marin County Free Library in California found some projects just aren't suitable in certain activity rooms. For example, she said, they couldn't do a glow-in-the-dark candy project because of the potential mess caused by boiling sugar directly above carpet.

Travis Good, the co-founder of the Maker City Census, said he visited 68 makerspaces to develop his criteria for readiness. At the top of list for libraries? "Tolerance for noise," along with the willingness to establish ongoing programs, have available Making tools (even items as simple as scissors), provide dedicated-use space, and availability of "dirty" space for woodworking or other messy projects. All are considerations for schools as well.
2) DO A PREVIEW RUN.
Amber Creger with Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Illinois discovered it was really important to try projects ahead of time, prior to diving in as a group. In one case, they were making a do-it-yourself cardboard pinball machine.

"Who knew the glue could burn," she said. A trial run lets you work out the bugs before involving kids.

And that helps to ensure safety remains at the forefront, which Erin Downey Howerton, Children's Manager at Wichita Public Library, said is a focus of their Maker activity: "I don't think we actually set fire to anything."
3) VERIFY SKILL LEVELS.
Marin County's Avitabile had one surprise as her young makers dove into a project. "Only one in four in our team of kids knew how to use a screwdriver," she said. Don't assume students have even the necessary knowledge of basic skills. Plan for some instruction.

While Maker Camp provided descriptions for 30 projects in 30 days, libraries typically did one or two programs a week for a couple of hours each. And not every idea for a Maker project came from staff.

"I ask the teens what they want to do," rather than dictating all projects, Avitabile said. That approach is very much in the spirit of making. And with teens who come to her with new ideas, she tells them, "You have to help me do it." Creger added that her teens decide their monthly programs.
5) REACH OUT FOR HELP.
Not all the knowledge required for a successful making program comes in a kit or from staff. "Don't be afraid to make friends" with those who are experts in areas in which you're not, Creger advised. For one electricity project, she found an expert in Wichita who was willing to help.

In the case of libraries, that expertise can also come from educators. "We're working on developing a better relationship with our schools," Creger said, noting that her library wants to work with the schools that have robotics clubs to do joint maker activities.

[ RELATED: The Public Library, Completely Reimagined]

Steve Teeri with Detroit Public Library partners with a local makerspace for a variety of different after-school projects, from bike repair to higher tech. "We learn from their mistakes," he said. And kids learn because they have to go online to do research and figure out how to make what they want to make.

"It's not a difficult thing to find volunteers who know stuff," Avitabile said. "It's surprising how many people want to share stuff for free."
6. DOING BRINGS DOUBTERS ON BOARD.
While not all involved may appreciate - or even understand - the maker approach at the start, "I was surprised at how quickly the staff bought into it," said Creger. Those who were unsure learned with the others as they took part in creating the projects.

Though the reaction from others can sometimes be skeptical or hesitant, try different approaches. "Making? We don't know what to do. We make crafts," Howerton said she was told at first. So she thought of crafts as a "gateway drug" for making, such as moving to a fabric project with embedded LED lights. Ultimately, Howerton said, "We have actually built our staff capacity on Maker Camp and what Make has done for us."
7. IT'S THE EXPERIENCE, NOT THE OBJECT.
Avitabile allowed that it's hard to share or take home some maker projects (such as large collaborative efforts), so Novato Library focuses more on the process than the product. "Kids just like to make stuff," she said. "And they don't have to leave with the stuff they make."

"You're opening doors and windows" through the process, said Creger. And the positive aspects of the program have, in part, spurred Arlington Heights to plan a DIY corner where kids can check out maker kits, in addition to using a 1,700 square foot space in the center of the library for maker activities. Similarly, Wichita Public Library is in the design phase for a makerspace that Howerton hopes is built. Detroit Public Library's HYPE makerspace is nine months old.

[ RELATED: Lessons Learned: How a Progressive School Adapts to Reality]

Make's Dougherty reminded the librarian audience that the Maker Movement, while also tied to schools because of its connection with STEM initiatives, is naturally aligned with them. "Like libraries, we're at the intersection of information and experience." And ultimately, he said, making is about learning - and creating evidence of that learning.

"It's not just about getting 3D printers into libraries. It's about getting the process of making into libraries," Dougherty said. "Though the 3D printers are pretty cool."

Frank Catalano is a consultant, author and veteran analyst of digital education and consumer technologies. He tweets @FrankCatalano, consults as Intrinsic Strategy, and writes a column for GeekWire for which he also sought out the As a child, he used to frequent Radio Shack to find cool things to build that weren't likely to accidentally catch on fire.

Want to Start a Makerspace at School? Tips to Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Want to Start a Makerspace at School? Tips to Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the Maker Movement starts to gain momentum, schools that are trying to find ways to foster the do-it-yourself environment can learn a few lessons from another nexus in the universe: public libraries. Dale Dougherty, founding editor and publisher of Make Magazine -- and the de facto leader of the Maker Movement -- has a...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
All the Makerspace resources you could hope for (and more)

I first started learning about the Maker Movement in education and makerspaces in late 2013. Since then, I've been using this page to compile and curate some of the best articles, videos, blogs, books and other resources that have helped me along the way. My hope is that you will consider this a go-to resource as you progress along your own Maker journey. No matter whether you're just getting started with makerspaces or are looking to grow your program, there's something here for you.

What is the Maker Movement?

The Maker Movement has been around for a lot longer than many of us realize. Really, the desire to make things with our hands has existed since the dawn of humanity and DIY culture has long played an important role. Make Magazine has been around since 2005 and the first Maker Faire was held in 2006. Check out the articles below for a great take on what the Maker Movement means for education.

Colleen Grave's first started a makerspace at Lamar Middle School and then when on to pilot a makerspace at Ryan High School. She shares all about her experiences, projects her students are making and has gathered substantial resource lists as well. Her blog is seriously awesome. (Of course, I'm biased because we wrote a book together)

Laura Fleming's blog about her library and makerspace at New Milford High School. One of the pioneers of the school library makerspace movement, Laura has shared many amazing resources (and she has an awesome book too!)

Andy Plemmons' blog; in addition to being an all-around awesome librarian, Andy does an amazing job of bringing making into Barrow Elemenntary School. He collaborates with the University of Georgia and often brings the makerspace into his curriculum collaborations with teachers. He's also amazing at fundraising and creating big, school-wide projects.

Krissy runs an amazing makerspace called the Launch Pad at her elementary school, and she is an fantastic advocate for creativity. She also creates gorgeous posters (many with maker themes) that she makes freely available on her site and she founded the #elemaker hashtag. Did I mention that her job title is Innovation Coordinator?

Gwyneth Jones is an all around awesome librarian who shares resources relentlessly on her blog. She started a makerspace in her library recently and has taken a balanced approach, starting with a few affordable centers. She also makes amazing posters and graphics and offers them for FREE on her blog.

Robert Pronovost's blog about Ravenswood Elementary Makerspace. He's documented his space since he created it and offers some great advice on procedures. Definitely an excellent example of a successful elementary space.

Blog run by public librarians who work with young adults. The write about all things YA and have quite a few posts on makerspaces and maker programs.

Blog that focuses on libraries and artists working together. More of a public library and museum focus.

The people who started it all - there's amazing project inspiration and ideas on here, as well as lots of free resources.

Co-written by me, Colleen Graves and Aaron Graves, this book is packed full of lots of practical information and real-life examples of using design challenges in makerspaces. We cover everything from building a maker culture and setting up the physical space of your makerspace to organizing global collaborations and sharing your projects through Maker Fests. We go into detail about creating design challenge prompts that can inspire your makers. The book has sections specifically focused on elementary and secondary curriculum connections and we feature interviews with a ton of amazing maker educators at all grade levels.

Available from Amazon and other book sellers now!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I first started learning about the Maker Movement in education and makerspaces in late 2013. Since then, I've been using this page to compile and curate some of the best articles, videos, blogs, books and other resources that have helped me along the way.

# data[].attributes.headline
Makerspace Infographic - Heather Lister | iPads...

# data[].attributes.subject
Makerspace Infographic - Heather Lister | iPads...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Makerspace Infographic - Heather Lister | iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Makerspace | Piktochart Infographic Editor | iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

# data[].attributes.headline
Krissy Venosdale - Living & Learning In A Creative Life

# data[].attributes.subject
Krissy Venosdale - Living & Learning In A Creative Life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I could have titled this post "The Rise and Fall of the PLN." But, I didn't want to be overly dramatic. There was a time when I lived and breathed Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Phone in my hand, laptop on my desk, notifications dinging. And then one day, almost as in that moment where Forrest Gump just stops running, I stopped. I was tired. I think it was time. I picked up my ipad and started drawing. I grabbed my SLR Camera that I refer to as Beatrice and started taking photos again. Not photos that could be instantly shared, but photos that I may never share. Trees, flowers, shadows. I started making art. The time I had spent consuming could now be spent creating. And it's opening new doors inside my mind. I know that sounds cheesy, but how many times do we need reminders that sometimes, we just need to make time to make things. Creative time is like a nice wash for the soul. And there is no place where that is needed more than in education.

The apps on my phone were the first to go. Followed by regular Twitter use. I stopped photographing everything around me for quick shares and cut back on consuming blog posts, reads, and tweets. I experienced a sort of radio silence. Stillness. Deafening at times, awakening moments at others. Until you are alone in your own thoughts, you might just not really rely on them.

I just can't learn if I am constantly broadcasting. I also know that for me, reflection takes time. It has to soak in like a slow drip on a root. Social media is a firehose at times, and sometimes a little sip here and there are just what I need.

Balance.

I'm just kind of done with broadcasting and want to know that I've found a sense of balance. One where I listen more than I tweet. One where I weigh in my experiences with others' experiences and think critically about where our kids are heading and how to best guide them. This life we are navigating is not an easy one. We have so much at our fingertips and with that great opportunity comes great responsibility and also a need to be fully aware.

If I had read this post two years ago, I wouldn't have believed it was even my own words. I have met some great and best friends through connections at conferences and social media. But those great friends are in my phone and in my heart whether I have an app installed or not. That's how I know things are evolving. The people who were there for me when I needed them are still there for me now.

So if you don't see me on Twitter, I might just be enjoying a slow read of a good book on a quiet afternoon. Photographing a dandelion in the wind. Having a conversation with a kid about his learning. Enjoying a good collaboration with the colleagues next door. Or taking a nap on the couch with my dog.

So I suppose this is not really the 'fall" of a PLN. It's just changed. Still connected, still learning, still finding the way that works for me. And creating along the way.

And that? It feels closer to real balance than ever before.

I've spent a great part of my life researching sensory experiences, sensory integration, and how children learn through their senses. Why? Because, for years, we were walking the journey of parents, trying to help their child. A child whose senses were terribly out of balance from the world. She could feel the drops of water, individually on her skin when stepping out of the pool. Not feel in awareness, but a sting. She saw the intensity of light in a way that I still can't explain, but that made a 5 year old say traffic was "a beautiful sight" because of the sea of red glow in front of us. She's challenged everything I thought I knew and opened my eyes to everything I'm ready to know. You know that thing about our kids teaching US more than we teach them. Fact.

Now when I watch kids, at 4, at 6, at 8, take the world in, I see their senses. I see them smelling the paper. I see them touching the cardboard. I see them listening to the sounds of beads pouring into a bucket. I see their sticky fingers and watch them use too much tape. Places where I used to intervene, I now know to be quiet. I now understand how precious these experiences are.

Maybe, because these experiences were always a challenge, always different than expected, always bigger when I thought they'd be smaller. They were drops of water on the skin. Most of us don't notice when we walk from the pool, most of us don't experience the greatness when we go under and that stinging ceases. Most of us don't get the blessing of being so aware. The raw look at senses.

Being fully aware is a gift. It allows us to question. Technology is a huge passion of mine- I'll be in line to get iPhone X and I wore the Apple Watch as soon as I could get one. But, balance. The work of people like Seymour Papert who believed that technology was a vehicle for kids to create and construct and Friedrich Froebel who knew that hands on play was the vehicle kids needed. We can never throw out this work in favor of selling a kit or promoting a product that doesn't take kids needs fully into account.

I find myself torn. Google tools are exciting. AR and VR. All the hardware, Pi, Arduino, LittleBits, drones, and I could go on. It's all got the potential to be meaningful, to add to great experiences for kids. But, meaning. Those senses are calling. Raw learning. To me, in my heart, making encapsulates all that is good and raw. And necessary.

I am left thinking, just because I CAN stick an ipad in the hands of kids in our world and they CAN manipulate it, should I? Where are the sensory experiences? Where is the texture? The smell? the crinkle of materials? The resistance of the tape roll? Virtually, it's not there. We can help our kids get ready for the future whether they learn to manipulate system preferences, taps, and clicks at 4 or at 10.

So, in the same way that I worked so very hard to help my child balance her senses all those years, I will work in the same way to find learning balance. The balance between raw and digital. And that's what the experiences that I hope to plan in the classroom can be about. Raw learning. Technology used for creating. Incorporating sensory experiences in all of those things along the way. Developing all the things that will never be obsolete: resilience, joy, optimism, problem solving, flexible thinking. Ever tangle with a tape roll? Trust me, all those things.

Anyone who has ever created anything will tell you, you create with your whole being. Not just sight. Never just touch. Your senses working together to take your experiences from the environment and turn them into something that ONLY YOU can conceive of. And that? It's what makes it so awesome. Raw creativity. Magic. It's the reason I can't settle for recipe learning. I can't settle for finding all my lessons or teaching scripts on the internet, from someone else's heart or soul. It's the reason our kids, the ones right in front of us, hold the answers to our classrooms.

Our future is technology filled, that's a given. But, it's what our kids do with the power of combining their hearts and souls, their learning, the raw materials WITH that technology. it's that. Kids come to us with millions of ideas, and it's our job to help them feel the confidence to take those ideas and bring them to life. Technology might make that possible, but it will be our guidance and our getting out of their way... that's when the magic will unfold.

Harvey swept across Texas and Louisiana in a literal whirlwind, and stayed. For so many days people watched water creep it's way into their homes, the homes of their neighbors, family and friends. Communities shut down. People kept in touch with each other via various technological devices. Rescues via boat, helicopter, and open arms were bigger than the storm. For days, and honestly, I can't really even tell you how many, I watched Coast Guard and Navy helicopters fly across our back yard, knowing what they meant. Someone else was in trouble and help was on the way. With every single chopper, I'd think the same thing, "Please let them be okay, too."

I don't know if you could be in the city and not have been changed, forever, by the events that unfolded. Whether you were directly affected by the winds, the floods, or the storms that continued, or indirectly affected as the experienced the knowledge of people you love being torn from their homes by rising waters. Either way, Harvey's presence isn't one that will soon, if ever, be forgotten.

It's what has happened after Harvey that will also stay with me forever. The outpouring of love, literally flooding the city with kindness, and literally coming over the people of Houston like a wave of absolute support. It's THAT which I will forever marvel at.

I honestly couldn't wait to return to school. Maybe it was for the normalcy it would provide. Maybe it was to see colleagues I'd been incredibly worried about. Maybe it was to hug the kids in our community. Probably all of those things. But the week we returned, I walked into a classroom and a student hugged me and said, "Was your home okay?" I nodded, "Yours?" and she nodded. And we both smiled at each other. It was a hello smile, a happy to see you smile, an "I'm so glad you are okay," smile. It was empathy, deep and alive. It honestly makes tears form in my eyes when I think about it. For we all know too well here, there are so many who are not okay just yet. They are grateful to be alive, grateful to have each other, and at the same time- hard at work to rebuild their lives. Normal will never be the same, but Houston will reach a "new normal" as we all try to figure out what that looks like and for those of us who still have a bit of normal, we'll work hard to help others find theirs.

For me, every single moment now feels bigger. I honestly though they already were as big as possible. You cannot work with children and fail realize the size of each moment. Kids have a way of reminding us. Relationships in education are everything. I know that. I knew that. We all know that. I now know it on a level I can't truly describe. Every conversation with a kid, every talk with a colleague, every little bit of every single day. Because in those little tiny, itty bitty bits of life we can find the biggest, most gigantic amounts of good. Ginormous good. If there were a rating scale for good, this kind is beyond Category 5. Off the charts.

I suppose, after all this, I've learned, or been reminded deeply, of something. It's those times in our lives that are the worst, hardest, and most difficult... the storms... that change us. For it's those same stories that end with some sort of good, some raw unfiltered joy that lands there. The only way I can even describe it are the words of the brilliant Leonard Cohen, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Harvey may have left a crack in the city of Houston, but nobody was prepared for the light that would flow in.

I'm reading Lifelong Kindergarten. I've been obsessed with the Lifelong Kindergarten at MIT since I visited there a few years ago. Legos, Scratch, the Logo Turtle, and so much creative inspiration about learning in ONE place. So many thoughts are running through my head as I read, I'm asking myself a lot of questions. I'm rethinking the way I look at technology learning. I feel a shift. I feel some things becoming more important that we just didn't need or know to consider several years ago. We're beyond tools. We're living in a world immersed in technological advances. It's exciting and it's daunting. And it's something we constantly have to be adjusting our awareness of. I'm not saying the answers to these questions are yes, no, or maybe. I'm just saying I'm trying to raise my own awareness of what I need to consider as we move forward in our exciting, fast paced, technological learning world.

Am I teaching and modeling how to learn without the constant distraction of technology?

Am I providing kids the chance to not only choose which tool is best to use, but also consider that technology may not be the best tool to use?

Am I fully present in the conversations with learners, without the distraction of a device or glitzy tool?

Am I constantly considering student privacy and their rights whether they are 4, 10, or 18 years old?

Am I helping kids understand that just because we CAN share everything online, doesn't mean it's always the best idea?

Am I encouraging kids to think about how doing acts of kindness matter JUST as much whether done in secret or shared with a selfie that earns 1400 likes?

Am I helping kids understand that the VERY most important devices are their imaginations and providing the chance for them to fully rely on their own thoughts?

Am I quiet often enough to allow thinking to go deep?

Am I honoring that kids are often less enamored by devices and tools than adults are?

Am I stepping aside to allow the students to figure out the way?

Am I fully valuing the tactile acts of building with blocks, cardboard, and raw materials?

Am I listening with a teacher's ear to give answers or with a learner's ear to gain understanding?

Am I spending personal time outside my classroom doing something creative so that I can remember the importance of it?

Am I honoring the introverts just as I am the extroverts with balance and thought?

Am I striving to help kids create their learning story or am I busily designing my own?

Am I taking the time to notice each and every learner, each and every day?

Am I still learning? That answer I know for sure. Every single day. That moment we think we have everything figured out and are finished learning? That's when we are finished teaching.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I could have titled this post "The Rise and Fall of the PLN." But, I didn't want to be overly dramatic. There was a time when I lived and breathed Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Phone in my hand, laptop on my desk, notifications dinging.