Makerspaces 101
Students today face a future with new challenges and opportunities that are hard to predict and anticipate. As they look at future jobs, they find employers requiring a broader range of skills. To prepare today’s students, innovative educators have explored new teaching strategies. Among these we find teachers giving students the opportunity to explore problem-solving in new, creative ways with makerspaces.
What is a Makerspace?
Makerspaces are collaborative workspaces designed for hands-on creativity. In them, students create a digital or physical product that they share with their class, school, or even community. Makerspaces are dedicated to creating, learning, and exploring. They may include high-tech tools and equipment, like 3D printers, sewing machines, or robotics equipment. They might just use supplies as simple as cardboard, duct tape and art supplies. They provide a space for student-centered and student-directed learning and inquiry.
Why are makerspaces beneficial in education?
As students head into a drastically different workforce than what their parents and grandparents experienced, they need to know how to collaborate with others. Students also need deepened creativity and critical thinking skills to solve unique and constantly shifting challenges. Makerspaces are a prime opportunity to gain this experience by giving learners the opportunity to collaborate while they “explore, experiment and discover.” The opportunity to try, fail, and try again in a safe environment can help students develop persistence and a determination to stick with a challenge until they find a solution.
How to get started?
Getting started can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re looking for ideas on how to set up a makerspace or how to provide equipment and supplies on a tight budget, there’s help. Here are some ideas we found:
- Learn from others. The internet and social media are full of guides and tips for getting started and making a makerspace work for you and your students. A little online research can provide a lot of information. You might also be able to visit and experience a makerspace in your area.
- Ask the community. Communities can help stock simple supplies like cardboard boxes, paper, popsicle sticks, office supplies, glass jars, etc. Give a wish list to businesses, parents, and post it on social media. Your community can provide experts with specific, technical skills who could assist with a project.
- Start small. You can find amazing makerspaces with incredible supplies and equipment, but a simple space can serve the same purpose. It’s even an option to start with one project to introduce the concept and build as you move forward.
- Establish expectations. Ask students to help construct guidelines and procedures before getting started so everyone is on the same page.
- Make connections. Incorporate maker projects into everyday lessons to “cement the association between real-world curiosity and experimentation to more structured and measured classroom instruction.”
Makerspaces are growing in popularity because they are helping students develop the 21st century skills that employers are looking for. Collaborative, problem-solving opportunities prepare learners for their futures and the challenges they will face when they leave school.
Have you given makerspaces a try? We’d love to hear your experience.
