LITMIR.BIZ

      The Seven Attributes of a Great Makerspace

      My work with schools across the nation on planning and creating makerspaces has proven to me that while anyone can create a makerspace, there are distinct differences between makerspaces and GREAT makerspaces. Makerspaces touch the surface of impacting student learning, whereas GREAT makerspaces allow students the opportunity to take a deeper dive into their learning. The students who have visited my makerspace most regularly have been the students who are most disaffected by traditional schooling. At the most fundamental level, our makerspace has allowed them to find their passion and foster a love for learning. This naturally has helped them focus on other areas, too, leading to higher achievement in their content-area classes. All students who visit our makerspace benefit from intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning. GREAT makerspaces make learning fun and motivate students to learn. The skills the students gain extend their learning into the real world and provide them with benefits that reach well beyond their schooling.

      GREAT makerspaces are unique to your school community and not only vibrant now but also sustainable into the future. All too often, schools go out and buy the “stuff”—the things that other schools with makerspaces have bought, or things that are trendy and schools feel they should buy. What usually happens in those instances is that the space is exciting for a short period of time but, ultimately, that excitement fades. GREAT makerspaces plan for the future and understand that a makerspace is never done. It is always evolving and growing and taking shape.

      The seven attributes of a GREAT makerspace serve as a guide for school districts and educators as they plan makerspaces for their school communities. Makerspaces should be personalized to your school community, promote deep understanding of concepts, provide access to all students to ensure equity, invite student-driven exploration, differentiate for students’ needs, convey an intentional vision, and inspire students to make.

      Let’s explore what each of these components looks like in GREAT makerspaces.

      1 Personalized

      A thematic approach to planning your makerspace ensures that you uncover themes that are unique, relevant, and meaningful to your school community.

      Photo courtesy of Gina Seymour

      Photo courtesy of Gina Seymour

      GREAT makerspaces are personalized and uncover themes that are unique, relevant, and meaningful to your school community. Take, for example, New York high school librarian Gina Seymour, who has adopted the theme of “compassionate making” in her makerspace at Islip High School, in Long Island, New York, which allows her students the opportunity to explore societal themes such as compassion, empathy, and social action through the creation of authentic content and products. Students who want to make a difference in her community visit her MakerCare station to create authentic contents and products. She emphasizes that high-tech makerspaces are not necessary in a school, that all you need to support themes are inexpensive supplies along with children who wish to take action in their community through engaged self-expression.

      Another example of a school makerspace with themes that are unique, relevant, and meaningful to a school community is the makerspace at Belgrave Heights Christian School in Melbourne, Australia. Their makerspace, the DC (Discovery Centre), is a place where the school community can gather to imagine, create, explore, invent, tinker, and make. In addition to the themes of construction, engineering, and geography, they also have adopted the theme of faith. This theme allows for student devotion time wrapped around making and exploration.

      2 Deep

      Be sure to provide opportunities for your students to take their learning deeper.

      Makerspaces in and of themselves do not necessarily promote deeper learning. Does your makerspace have depth? GREAT makerspaces provide opportunities for students to take their learning deeper. For example, many makerspaces have Legos. Legos are all about themes such as engineering, design, and architecture. For those students who enjoy designing with Legos, it is critical to find additional ways to support the themes behind Legos. Students who enjoy Legos should have other opportunities to experience engineering, architecture, and design, and not just be limited to one activity. This affords them rich experiences and innovative ways to take their learning deeper than if their experience began and ended with Legos.

      Samantha Edwards, library media specialist at Fogelsville Elementary School, has created many opportunities for her students to take their learning deeper. Using Schoology, she created a competency-based learning model in her Media Center for her fifth graders. Students master the curriculum while also obtaining open-ended exploration and increased time in their library makerspace. As students master concepts, they are awarded online badges. After three to four units are mastered each quarter, students receive open-ended exploration time at the Innovation Station of their choice in their makerspace. Samantha also has tried to create a print-rich environment conducive to researching robotics, engineering, circuitry, design, and bookmaking, among many other topics, and has supported her students’ interests

Скачать книгу