To Unfold: What a MakerSpace Taught Me (Part 2)

My four major takeaways from running an elementary MakerSpace: 

1. How to answer the question, What is a MakerSpace?

           My best answer...a space with materials for students to let their curiosity and imagination
            come to life. An informal, playful, atmosphere for learning to unfold. A space where making,    

            rather than consuming is the focus. A space where transdisciplinary learning, inquiry, risk-taking,
            thinking, crafting, tinkering, and wondering can blossom.  

2. Where to find materials for MakerSpace.

           Twenty kids will go through materials quickly. The Lincoln School Improvement Team was lucky
            enough to have received a $1,000 grant from the Adrian Schools Education Foundation to buy
            many of the non-consumable materials, tools, and robotics for the space. However, what really
            makes a MakerSpace is the consumable materials cardboard boxes can be unfolded to make
            cars, boats, and Eiffel Towers. Foam pieces, tubing, and random plastic shapes become the
            lights, windows, hinges, and legs to those creations. The Scrapbox in Ann Arbor, MI was my
            saving grace for finding many of these random and odd materials. Goodwill is where we were
            able to get our free cardboard, and parents also donated materials that they had at home or work.

3. It’s not always about the Making

          Yes, the making is where all the tinkering, creativity, and innovation unfolds. But, in the end most

            of those creations will get taken apart, torn down, and remade or recycled into something new. As
            I see it, a MakerSpace is about investigation, planning, creating, communicating, personal
            learning, and reflection. It is not a place for grades, standards, test, or pressure (and should never
            be in my opinion). During MakerNIght, I watched parents, teachers, students, and community
            members creating and discovering together. What they took home (other than a cardboard
            creation) was a memory. A memory of creativity, community, and fun in their child's school
            building.  

4. To Unfold

           In a MakerSpace environment, there are no specific directions, no rules, no time limits or
            deadlines. It’s a place where ideas can be crumpled up, evaluated and reflected upon, unfolded,
            and recreated. Then repeated, over and over again...and it’s safe.

 

Shift: What a MakerSpace Taught Me

Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of running an after school MakerClub at my children's school. As amazing and rewarding as this experience was I have had a really hard time preparing this final reflection. If this Google Doc would have been a piece of notebook paper I would have crumpled it up a million times. Ironically, that is what I took away from the MakerSpace, the fact that it is OK to unfold that crumbled paper and start over. No one is watching me write this draft, no one is judging me, no one will give me a grade, and I have as much time as I need.   

Week, after week, I watched the MakerClub kids create, teardown, redo, forget, start again, ask questions, try a different avenue, smile and laugh. In this space no one was watching to make sure they followed directions, no one was judging how their project looked compared to the next kid, no one was grading them, and no one was rushing them. And I bet, you could see more determination, drive, grit, and perseverance in that one hour each week than you would see all year in the classroom. However, that was not evident the first few weeks. The kids had a hard time just being told to "make"; they were a bit lost and looking for directions. All day they are told what to do and how to do it. This "space" in the school, where they were told to do as they pleased, with lots of materials, was a bit confusing for them (and some of us parents).

It’s by no means the teachers fault, they do their best each and every day to make learning meaningful, playful, and creative for our children (and still hold to standards, testing, and evaluation expectations). This is a systems problem. A system that needs a shift. A shift away from the industrial, conveyor belt, spoon feeding system to an inquiring, planning, creating, sharing, communicating, and reflecting system. I am not suggesting that every day should (or can) be filled with cardboard, glue, and popsicle sticks. What I am driven to do is help educators, and stakeholders recognize how to make a shift and keep in meaningful.

Stay tuned...

“Classrooms could once again become places of great joy, creativity, and invention.”

-Invent to Learn