What To Put in Your Makerspace (and How to Pay for It)

Paslay, Juliana

IL

Bauerly, T. (2017) What To Put In Your Makerspace (and How to Pay For It). Edsurge. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-07-13-what-to-put-in-your-makerspace-and-how-to-pay-for-it

This article talks about getting a Makerspace started in a school and practical ideas on how to do it with a small budget.

Grant Resource Guide

Michele Peabody

Z

Maker-bot-Grant Resource Guide.
http://pages.makerbot.com/MakerBot-Grant-Resource-Guide-Form.html

ForK-12 schools, great resource for education, technology, mathematics, science and Gates Foundation grant resources

Stanford FabLearn's Paulo Blikstein on the Efficacy of Maker Ed: It's about Process Not Products

Paslay, Juliana

IL

Gomes, Patricia. (2016) Stanford FabLearn’s Paulo Blikstein on the Efficacy of Maker Ed: It’s about Process Not Products. Edsurge. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-05-26-stanford-fablearn-s-paulo-blikstein-on-the-efficacy-of-maker-ed-it-s-about-process-not-products?mc_uid=24373520d43ce16a4903e62f8bf5a5a5&utm_source=EdsurgeLive&utm_campaign=610b7870f0-2016-06-08-EdSurge+Newsletter+Ver+278&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0f1ec25b60-610b7870f0-291804001 I really appreciated this article and its point of view! It’s on how assessment needs to be different when using makerspaces in education. I think it has some good points on both maker education and assessment.

Free to Make

Bradley, Rebecca

ET

Dougherty, D. & Conrad, A. (2016) Free to make: How the maker movement is changing our schools, our jobs, and our minds. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Summary
Dale Dougherty is the founder and CEO of Maker Media, Inc, which launched a magazine called "Make" in 2005 and Maker Faire in 2006. Since then the Maker Movement has exploded around the world. In this book, Dougherty describes the "Maker Mindset" and who, what, where, and how people are exploring this exciting trend with hundreds of concrete real-life examples. Of particular interest to me is the chapter titled "Making is Caring" in which Dougherty states that the "Maker Movement asks us not only what technology can do but what good people can do as a community to use such tech tools to take care of ourselves and others."

Evaluation
I found this book to be an excellent historical overview of the Maker Movement and a good starting point for teacher-librarians and librarians who wish to create a Makerspace of their own. It is thorough, easy to read, and highly inspirational. 

STEAM by Design

Alicia Morales

CO

Blog STEAM by Design retrieved from https://www.smore.com/nts29-steam-by-design October, 2016.

Summary: Blog that collects stories from other schools/teachers who are implementing STEM projects. Blog connects reader to a series of links to other sites that focus on design, technology, science and content making. There are also links to other useful articles. Most of the examples are contributed by teachers working with young students, elementary level. Great show of creativity.

Crafting Professional Development for Maker Educators

Alicia Morales

CO

Graves, C. (2016). Crafting Professional Development for Maker Educators from Edutopia retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/crafting-professional-development-maker-educators-colleen-graves on September 2016. 

Summary: Maker spaces are a growing trend in many libraries, public or school, they usually involve hands on learning, crafts, and student collaboration, they are great ways to learn. This article's focus was taking this same concept, maker spaces for student learning, but instead of student learning, it's moved to teacher learning. Maker Spaces for Teacher PD's. Creating successful professional development should focus on getting teacher/learners involved in thinking about the process and creativity of learning. It an be messy yes, but in the end teachers experience what students experience when making content. 

Seven Surprising Benefits of Maker Spaces

Brandt, Alisa

Barron, C., & Barron, A. (2016, August 2). Seven surprising benefits of maker

    spaces [Blog post]. Retrieved from School Library Journal website:

    http://www.slj.com/2016/08/technology/seven-surprising-benefits-of-maker-spaces/

ET - Maker Spaces

IL - Motivation

This article reveals the seven physical and psychological benefits of maker spaces in libraries beyond meeting curriculum standards.

Focusing on making brings people into the present moment giving them a break from focusing on the past or future too much. Making is physical and gets people moving, stretching, and standing, which gets blood flowing. Making is dependent upon self-directed engagement and gives people motivation to complete a task rather than having to do a required task. This means that people are learning what interests them and leads to a greater sense of satisfaction. Making uses hand-based activities which gives people a deeper connection to their brain and the development of skills such as visual thinking and problem solving. Making improves mood, giving people a boost of happiness. Maker spaces in libraries create a sense of community and connection which can prevent loneliness. Making “prevents the habit of wastefulness” by salvaging old materials and creating something new (Barron & Barron, 2016).

Evaluation: We are all familiar with the ways that makerspaces in schools enhance student learning and help to meet curriculum standards. It is also helpful to understand the ways in which making, whether it is simple or complex, provides so many mental and physical benefits to makers. In a time when people are increasingly disconnected from others and from the physical and mental processes that keep humans healthy, making provides an opportunity to gain some of this back.

How A Moveable Space Can Ignite Creativity In The Classroom

May 5th, 2015

Elizabeth Brown
ET, CO

Pfau, P. (2014, November 26). How a moveable space can ignite creativity in the classroom mind shift  
[Web log post] Retrieved from http://www.blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/11/how-a-moveable-space-can-ignite-creativity-in-the-classroom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=
Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28mindshift%29

Summary: Imagine a classroom with mobile desks and chairs that move with the students. In his KQED blog, Peter Pfau (2014) writes how in some schools, stationary learning environments are now a thing of the past. Instead, "moveable spaces" are being created with an innovative educational technique called "Design Thinking." Pfau explains,"It combines hands on learning (tinkering with independent problem solving methodologies)." That being said, these projects emphasize the importance of group work as well.  To that end, Pfau gives two examples that encourages student team- work: "Create a shared design-thinking space for all students to use" and "Look for spaces in your classroom that can be transformed into a student-driven collaboration classroom." According to Pfau, Design Thinking employs four different steps: "Identify the problem and research to understand the problem better." "Brainstorm possible strategies and identity solutions." "Test these solutions (welcoming failure as a tool)" and "Apply what you learn to evolve best solutions."

Evaluation: With "design thinking" and other maker spaces, the learning environment is of utmost importance. Moreover, students will learn more effectively if they create the space themselves  and make it their own because they will have the self-satisfaction of knowing that they designed their own classroom. They will also be more productive, being able to move around, as opposed to being confined to a small desk and chair. In addition, making mobile learning environments does double-duty in terms of practical learning applications. Not only are the students making their own functional working stations that they can later use, the space itself is the project. In the process, students will become self-directed learners or "designers" whom not only know how to work with other students and solve problems, they will know how to create useful (learning) spaces in the future.