Tour of Kansas City Makerspaces & Co-working Spaces by David Lee King I recently went on a whirlwind tour of Kansas City area makerspaces and co-working spaces, as part of a group of local community leaders interested in creating a really cool co-working/maker/hacker/media space in the Topeka area. My library’s definitely interested – we are creating a digital media lab this year. So touring these spaces was pretty useful! Here’s where I visited – read the post, and follow along in the video! Johnson County Library’s Makerspace - this small makerspace has two iMac computers, a 3D printer, a sewing machine, and a scanner, among other things. There’s a LOT happening in Kansas City right now, which is pretty neat! What are your plans for a makerspace in 2014?
The Daring Librarian SimplySTEM - Preschool Programs Many of the activities we already use in Storytime and Preschool Programs include S.T.E.M. concepts. Whether it's counting rhymes or activities about farm animals, you're probably already off to a good start. Here are some ideas of programs you can adapt to your library. Some of these ideas were created for an online class and may not have been tested on actual preschoolers. General Programs Bedtime Math by Linda GarfinkelBody Science by Amy KoesterBoxes (Shapes) by Nicole WilsonColor Science by Amy KoesterDiscovering Dinosaurs by Erin WarzalaEarth Day Program by Angela CriticsFun in the Garden by Mandy MartinLet's Travel by Judy NelsonLibrary Beans by Regan VittiMath Shapes by Sue ZeiglerOctopus's Garden by Kary Henry - for kindergarteners. S.T.E.M. in Storytime Materials for implementing STEM programs:
An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching Free Alternatives to Tinkercad TinkerCad has been purchased by Autodesk and is up, running, and receiving regular updates! Creators of Tinkercad announced earlier this week that they would no longer be developing the popular cloud-based CAD tool. We’re fans of Tinkercad here at MAKE, having written about and praised it on the blog and in our Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing, so this is sad news. The free version of Tinkercad is still available to use between now and the end of April, and paying customers will have access until the end of 2013 (you can read more about the timeline on the Tinkercad blog). Here are a few other free alternatives to Tinkercad, starting with what I think is the most beginner-friendly and ending with the least beginner-friendly: 3DTin An in-browser tool that started out as a simple shape editors, with specific blocks that you can duplicate and manipulate to make models. Try it here. SketchUp Originally created by Google and now owned by Trimble. Autodesk 123D Autodesk Inventor Fusion FreeCAD OpenSCAD
The Show Me Librarian SimplySTEM - Welcome to Simply S.T.E.M. 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. 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.) 10. ) It all started with a training offered by the Washington State Library… Part of the “Between the Lines” series of the Washington State Library Blog, this post describes one library manager’s first encounter with STEM-based makerspace programming. 12.) Maker Faire Makerspaces Directories 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) Revitalizing Community Spaces
Abby the Librarian: Those Summer Reading Club Prizes So. Revamping the prizes for the Summer Reading Club. We're doing it this year and I'm really, really excited about the changes we've made. We typically have about 1000 PreK-5th grade kids finish the Summer Reading Club and earn prizes. This is in addition to our Daycare Summer Reading Club kids, who get a different prize for simplicity's sake. For many years, we've offered a packet of coupons donated by local businesses (free ice cream, pizza, zoo passes, etc.), which we're still doing. So this year, we've put together a bunch of different Science Activity Packs. Each of these links will take you to more details about the activity, but basically we provide the supplies and a sheet with instructions, challenges, and/or ideas for additional activities they can do with the materials provided. Yes, they were labor-intensive to put together, but it gave us a great project to utilize the volunteers we have at the library! There are more reasons than that, of course.
Build a Makerspace Introduction by Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE How do we give young people more opportunities to become makers and learn practical skills they can apply to their own creative projects? The question comes up after each Maker Faire, when I see how young people are inspired by other makers. I know they leave and want to start making things. Could schools offer more opportunities for making things? At World Maker Faire in New York City, we saw a solution — a simple building called Shelter 2.0 (shelter20.com), designed by Robert Bridges to provide housing in areas hit by disaster. Can we find motivated parents and local makers to create a space and develop programs for local kids, in complete DIY fashion? Developed by Bridges with Bill Young of ShopBot, the standard modular makerspace is 10’×16′ with a barrel-shaped roof covered by canvas or corrugated tin. Now, you don’t have to build this particular building. Related
Little eLit | Young Children, New Media & Libraries openMaterials library makers