This week, my class and I were able to explore a new and in the process of being created MakerSpace at a local school. This was a new concept to me but I think is super cool and will be incredibly beneficial to the students that use these spaces.

What is a MakerSpace?

The first definition that I found when looking up “MakerSpaces” in Google is “a collaborative work space inside a school, library or separate public/private facility for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses high tech to no tech tools” (https://www.makerspaces.com/what-is-a-makerspace/).

The bit about “high tech to no tech tools” really stood out to me. In the space we explored, there wasn’t any “high tech” tools like cnc machines, 3D printers, or laser cutters. There were things like a Lego wall and table and green screen. Having a space like this allows for students to be really creative and see out the visions that they may have in their head and learn from their successes and failures.

When looking more into this topic, I thought about the documentary “Most Likely to Succeed” which is about a High Tech High in San Diego which uses this idea in the teaching philosophy of the school. There is a big fair where the students show their elaborate collaborative work. Their learning is more to do with inquiry, student-directed, and hands-on.

I think that there is so much opportunity with this approach. Children need to learn from their experiences and we should be providing as many experiences as we can for them to learn.

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