Defining Makerspaces: Part 1. Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with criticism.
Defining Makerspaces: Part 2. (Wordcloud above created from the Twitter posts below) Last week, someone criticized my makerspace as not being a “real” Makerspace because it does’t have power tools and suggested that I research what “real makerspaces” are.
Part one of my response to this criticism was my post last week where I looked for definitions from a variety of research and writing on makerspaces. Today, I’m looking at what the Twitterverse had to say. Here’s my original tweet out: And here’s what Twitter had to say: I later asked for people to share pictures of their #realmakerspaces. I am so grateful for the amazing, supportive community of my Twitter PLN. What Are They? - Libraries & Maker Culture: A Resource Guide. How Minecraft and Duct Tape Wallets Prepare Our Kids for Jobs That Don’t Exist Yet. EdSurge Newsletters Receive weekly emails on edtech products, companies, and events that matter.
When I was 11 I loved designing web pages and playing Sim City. Makerspaces, Year 1 Copy. I started by looking for ways to tie into the month.
Examples: 1. Design a haunted house (Oct.) 2. Design your own code (Dec. in honor of Hour of Code.) 3. Write a love poem about your favorite book (Feb.) 4. Make a 10-second video about the library (April) Submissions were displayed in the library, and winners received prizes (iTunes gift cards, extra book passes, free books, etc.) Look for ways to promote making! Creating Makerspaces in Schools. Two weekends ago, I attended EdCamp NYC at The School at Columbia, an independent school on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Make It @ Your Library. FutureMakers. Education Week. A Librarian's Guide to Makerspaces: 16 Resources. "There were more than 135 million adult makers, more than half of the total adult population in America, in 2015.
" What is a makerspace? You’ve no doubt been hearing that word more than a few times over the past several years. Makerspaces, also called hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs, are collaborative spaces where people gather to get creative with DIY projects, invent new ones, and share ideas. Since the first official makerspace convened six years ago in a library in upstate New York, libraries have remained an ideal setting for makerspace events across the country. Many offer community resources like 3D printers, software, electronics, craft and hardware supplies, and more. There were more than 135 million adult makers, more than half of the total adult population in America, in 2015. Articles & Blog Posts on Makerspaces 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) 12.) MakerSpace: The Online Community for Makers. School Libraries, Engineering and Librarians. Eli7095.pdf. Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf.
Library Makerspace. Makerspaces. Maker Movement. Kids Are Using Minecraft To Design A More Sustainable World. If you're going to communicate effectively with young people, it helps to do it in a language and format they understand.
Like Minecraft, for instance. One hundred million people already play the Swedish-born game, and even those who haven't played can soon appreciate its build-it-with-blocks vernacular. UN-Habitat, the UN's agency for sustainable urban development, has a program to improve public space in developing world cities. It helps build new parks, squares, sports fields, and sidewalks, and promotes the value of public space to local people. Recently, it's used Minecraft to engage young people. "It's really important to involve the local community as much as possible.
In about 15 countries, the agency has organized workshops where kids redesign spaces on Minecraft, then present their ideas to local architects, politicians, and businesspeople. The agency contacted Mojang, the Microsoft-owned company behind the game, in 2012. Minecraft is increasingly popular as an education tool. Coding Tutorials. 3-D Printing: Worth the Hype? Photo from iStock/Thinkstock If you’ve ever seen a 3-D printer at work, you know how mesmerizing it can be.
LEDs flicker to life, fans and motors spin up to speed, and then, the print head (or nozzle) begins its dance back and forth along X- and Y-axis belt drives (and up and down the Z-axis), extruding its “make” into being onto the print plate. Equal parts robot, building blocks, and hot glue gun, 3-D printing is a technology that’s making its way into schools and libraries. The printers work like this: a print head draws plastic filament from a large reel, heats the filament, and then extrudes it onto a build plate to print in 3-D. The print head (and sometimes the build plate) move on X, Y, and Z axes following instructions from design files uploaded to the printer via USB cable or SD card.
3D Printing & Education Case Study — Steamboat Springs HS Builds MakerSpace, Adds LulzBot Taz5 3D Printers. As the magic of 3D printing is spread far and wide across the globe, many students are lucky to be getting in on the ground floor of a budding technology that provides a skillset in high, high demand by many highly respected corporations with empty seats and a need for creative, innovative minds.
It’s also no secret that while most students have never 3D printed before–guess what? Neither have most of the teachers. While that might sound like the blind leading the blind, it actually presents an extremely valuable learning process that also nurtures and allows a makerspace to evolve in its purest form. What everyone learns together first is that 3D printing fever is contagious. Why Your Library May Soon Have Laser Cutters and 3-D Printers. Ben Wiseman Visit the downtown branch of the Chattanooga Public Library and you'll find the usual stuff: rows of books, magazines, and computers.
SUPPLEMENT: The Next Dimension: 3D Printers. In his forward to The Invent To Learn Guide to 3D Printing in the Classroom: Recipes for Success, Gary Stager makes the case for this technology du jour to have a place in K-12 classrooms. 3D printers are hot. They’re so hot that even schools are buying them. Although, schools are thought to be late adopters of emerging technology, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many schools already own 3D printers. Investing in a school’s first 3D printer may be a down payment on the future of education.
3D Printers Add a New Dimension to Classrooms. When Ron Smith first saw a 3D printer in action, he knew the device belonged in his Engineering and Metal Fabrication program at Nestucca Junior/Senior High School in Cloverdale, Ore. The technology could guide students all the way through the manufacturing process — from concept to completion — and reward them with an object they could hold in their hands. But it wasn’t until Smith had an Afinia 3D printer in his classroom that he realized its value as an educational tool. Computer-assisted design (CAD) software by itself is great, he says. But being able to bring those designs to life with a 3D printer adds a whole new dimension to the student experience. “Motivating students is one of the biggest jobs in teaching,” Smith says. That level of interaction creates engagement, and it’s a big reason why more K–12 schools are investing in the technology, says Pete Basiliere, research vice president at Gartner.
Real-World Solutions SOURCE: U.S. Business Sense All-Ages Show. UMD MakerBot Innovation Center: Fostering Entrepreneurship. iSchool Students and DC Public Libraries Collaborate on Makerspace. On April 30, 2013, four Master of Library Science (MLS) students, Tara Brady, Ayah Nuriddin, Walter Rodgers, and Camille Salas, co-facilitated a pop-up makerspace event in collaboration with a team from FutureMakers ( for individuals with disabilities at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library of the Washington, DC Public Libraries (DCPL). Pre College Programs: Getting Started. Each of us has an imagination. When we look at our world, we think of new ways to do things, new ways to live. Engineers are people who take the next step: they make their ideas work.
The results are all around us—hybrid cars that reduce pollution, cell phones that play music and games, MRI scanners that can spot diseases in the body, the list is virtually endless. Front Page - Greenbelt MakerSpaceGreenbelt MakerSpace. Greenbelt MakerSpace. Need to use a 3-D printer? Try your local library. - The Washington Post. The 3-D printer at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington. DIY (Do It Yourself) Fair for People with and without Disabilities. On Saturday, Nov. 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 18 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., the Adaptive Services Division of the DC Public Library hosted a DIY (Do It Yourself) Fair in the Great Hall of Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial Library at 901 G St. NW.