Low Tech, High Gains: Starting a Maker Program Is Easier Than You Think A busy day at Darien (CT) Public Library’s LEGO Club. Has the maker movement taken hold in your library yet? Would you like it to? Take your pick: Anything from building with LEGOs to arts and crafts, gardening, cooking, astronomy, knitting, weaving, crochet, jewelry-making, sewing wood working, metal working, bike repair, button making, and even paper airplane construction can be offered in a maker space. These low-tech experiences are an ideal way for youth services librarians to get their feet wet in the maker arena—and usually with very little investment in supplies, overhead, and outside technical expertise compared with their high-tech counterparts. In fact, most youth services librarians already offer quite a bit of hands-on programming that could qualify as “maker” even if it is not being marketed as such, Kane says. Says Kane, “Library staff in any department have special skills and hobbies, even past careers, that the library may know nothing about. Where to start?
Create a school makerspace in 3 simple steps As maker education gains steam, many educators are looking for ways to incorporate making and tinkering into their schools and classrooms — often on a shoestring budget. “Kids are saying they want to learn more about technology and science, but they also want to experience it creatively and use it personally,” said Dale Dougherty, founder of Make Media, which produces Maker Faire and Make Magazine. He’ll address how educators can deliver these types of experimental learning experiences during ISTE 2014’s EdTekTalks, a provocative series of mini-keynotes from thought leaders beyond the world of ed tech. “One of the ways we can do that is create more makerspaces for kids. But what makes a makerspace? They promote learning through play and experimentation.They’re cross-disciplinary, with elements of art, science and craftsmanship.They offer tools and materials that encourage students to create rather than consume. Step 1: Secure some space. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Step 2: Put stuff in it.
Community Is Key to Successful Library Maker Spaces | The Digital Shift 2013 The most important resource for creating a successful library maker space—whether in a school or public library—is one’s own community, according to librarians Justin Hoenke, Amy Koester, and Michelle Cooper. Strong relationships and community involvement, not big budgets and high-tech gadgetry, are key to reaching children and teens, the trio of makers say. The experts shared details of their programming for kids and their top maker strategies during “The Community Joins In: Library Maker Spaces,” a midday session of The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries (#TDS13) webcast on October 16, moderated by Hoenke, the new teen librarian at the Chattanooga (TN) Public Library and 2013 Library Journal Mover & Shaker. And since the event, the trio has created a Pinterest page filled with maker space advice, links, and takeaways. Kids learn to code at Chattanooga Public Library’s DevDev summer code camp, 2013. Cooper, school librarian at Henderson (TX) High School, also recommends this approach.
Makerspace Starter Kit The hot new Makerspace Movement is NOT new to Murray Hill Middle School. Eighteen years ago we designed and opened the school with the idea that we would have creation labs in the Media Center, GT room, and the TV studio. We started with video production, iMovie, Specular LogoMotion, Hyperstudio, and animation with Hollyood High kids. It's OK to Start Small! I re-purposed some of my empty study carrels for this Makerspace center at the top corner of our library. As I asserted in a recent blog post about new Ed Tech trends, fads, & tech -you can start small and You Don't Have to Marry It! For the Duct Tape Craft Cubby, I used a spring loaded curtain rod to hold the duct tape rolls, bought a bright blue colored shower caddy for the scissors and other tools. Amazon Delivers! I got all this on Amazon using my district P-Card & free shipping because I shared Prime with myself. Check out what I purchased full size - you may have to click twice to enlarge and scroll to view. FUND Me!
Designing a School Makerspace Makerspaces, STEAM labs, and fab labs are popping up in schools across the country. Makerspaces provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering. A makerspace is not solely a science lab, woodshop, computer lab or art room, but it may contain elements found in all of these familiar spaces. Cardboard construction Prototyping Woodworking Electronics Robotics Digital fabrication Building bicycles and kinetic machines Textiles and sewing Designing a space to accommodate such a wide range of activities is a challenging process. Some schools have chosen to incorporate makerspaces within multiple classroom spaces. Ask the Right Questions Because of the constantly evolving activities that a makerspace accommodates, a flexible design is critical from the outset. What range of subjects will be taught in the space? Which tools are most needed? Who are the kids that will be using the space?
Starting a School Makerspace from Scratch With the National Week of Making behind us, you might be ready to start a makerspace in your school -- but not know where to start. Will purchasing a costly 3D printer and the latest robotics kit ensure learning and maker success? What are some steps to starting a successful makerspace from scratch? Step 1: Immerse Yourself in Maker Education Before you can build your own community of makers, you need to join one! Start of newsletter promotion. Subscribe to the Edutopia Weekly newsletter—full of innovative teaching and learning strategies that will work with your students. Subscribe now End of newsletter promotion. Step 2: Get Others Involved Start a steering committee for your makerspace by involving interested teachers and students. If you can, reach out to the community and get parents and community members involved. Step 3: Purchasing Makerspace Resources Here are three guidelines: What purchases will give you the most bang for your buck? Step 4: Building a Community of Makers
How Libraries Are Becoming Modern Makerspaces If you could ask Ben Franklin what public institution he would like to visit in America today, I bet he would say the public library. And if you asked him which part of the library, I bet he would say the makerspace. Ben Franklin is well known as a founder of the early subscription library, the Philadelphia Library Company, almost 300 years ago. It may be less well known that Franklin used the library’s space for some of his early experiments with electricity. Today, perhaps taking a cue from Franklin, libraries across America are creating space for their patrons to experiment with all kinds of new technologies and tools to create and invent. As I wrote in a short piece in the March issue of The Atlantic, called The Library Card: Miguel Figueroa, who directs the Center for the Future of Libraries at the American Library Association, says makerspaces are part of libraries’ expanded mission to be places where people can not only consume knowledge, but create new knowledge.
Want to Start a Makerspace at School? Tips to Get Started | MindShift | KQED News As the Maker Movement starts to gain momentum, schools that are trying to find ways to foster the do-it-yourself environment can learn a few lessons from another nexus in the universe: public libraries. Dale Dougherty, founding editor and publisher of Make Magazine — and the de facto leader of the Maker Movement — has a vision to create a network of libraries, museums, and schools with what he calls “makerspaces” that draw on common resources and experts in each community. Libraries and museums, he said, are easier places to incorporate makerspaces than schools, because they have more space flexibility and they’re trying to attract teens with their programs. “Schools have already got the kids,” Dougherty noted wryly, at the recent American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. Schools can learn from libraries that participated in the inaugural Maker Camps last summer. “Why are you here?” But not every space is alike, or even appropriate.
Looking to Create a Makerspace in your Library? Here are some ideas Makerspaces are popping up everywhere and the definition of makerspaces is constantly evolving like the spaces themselves. Makerspaces, sometimes also referred to as hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. The focus, actually, is on the type of learning that goes on, not the stuff. Making is about learning that is: interest-driven and hands-on and often supported by peer-to-peer learning. Why focus on maker programs and spaces in your library? If you are thinking about ways to bring in some maker programs into your library, begin with identifying what kind of learning activities your teens want/need the most. Here are some other resources and ideas to help get you started. YALSA’s 2014 Makerspace Resources Taskforce put together this awesome (and free) Making in the Library Toolkit YALSA’s wiki on Maker and DIY Programs has resources, funding opportunities, program ideas and more. Tech Activity Ideas
9 Maker Projects for Beginner Maker Ed Teachers - Blog Maker education (often referred to as “Maker Ed”) is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom. A makerspace isn't just about the tools and equipment, but the sort of learning experience the space provides to students who are making projects. Maker Ed places a premium on the balance between exploration and execution. Maker education provides space for real-life collaboration, integration across multiple disciplines, and iteration—the opportunity to fail, rework a project and find success. Smaller Scale Maker Education Projects Do you want to get into Making and Maker Ed but don’t know where to start? Towers of Power Catapults Materials:Mouse trapsWood stirring sticksErasersWood blocksPing-pong ballsHot glue Bridge to Nowhere
4 San Francisco Projects Highlighted During the National Week of Making SAN FRANCISCO -- On Thursday, June 23, the city of San Francisco celebrated the end of the National Week of Making, held June 17-23, by highlighting four initiatives meant to expand the maker movement’s reach in manufacturing while enhancing its public exposure. In an event co-hosted by the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, officials recognized efforts to push the movement’s use of modern tech and local manufacturing forward. The gathering, held at the San Francisco community TechShop, spotlighted a new fabrication incubator, the opening of a San Francisco exhibition space for sound installations, a program to connect local makers with production facilities, and an international campaign to revive economies after disasters with maker tools, to name a few. Among the other key actions of the administration to support making are new grants and education resources from eight federal agencies to drive growth. 1. 2.
Manufacturing Makerspaces Kids gather to make Lego robots; teens create digital music, movies, and games with computers and mixers; and students engineer new projects while adults create prototypes for small business products with laser cutters and 3D printers. Many libraries across the US have developed makerspaces—places to create, build, and craft—and they are experiencing increased visits and demand as a result. For public libraries, they are places to promote community engagement. For academic libraries, they are places where students and faculty feel welcome to do classwork and research. Fundamentally, makerspaces are a technological leap past library knitting and quilting circles, where patrons and experts have often come together to learn new techniques and train others in a skill. The ALA 2012 Virtual Conference featured two well-attended makerspace sessions. Three Makerspace Models That Work By Travis Good Tools in a library makerspace range from electronics to digital media, 3D printing, and more. 1.