Essential question: What is the pedagogy behind a Maker Space? What are the benefits of this pedagogy to students?What is a makerspace? "A makerspace is a physical location where people gather to share resources and knowledge, work on projects, network, and build. Makerspaces provide tools and space in a community environment" (7 Things You Should Know About … Makerspaces, 2013). According to Miller (2015) these spaces can use high tech to no tech tools . High tech includes things such as "3D printers, laser cutters, cnc machines, soldering irons and even sewing machines." Low tech includes things such as "cardboard, legos and art supplies." Some other names for a makerspace include FabLab, Techshop, or hackerspace. Yes these are a little different but at the core they are similar: they are a place for people to come and create either or alone or collaborating with others. What are the benefits of a makerspace? "It offers the potential to make classrooms more child-centered: relevant and more sensitive to each child's remarkable capacity for intensity" (Stager, 2014). Students take control of their own learning making a classroom student-centered not teacher-centered. According to Stager making also allows cross curricular design. Subject distinction becomes almost non existent, as you need all skills when making. Problem solving in a makerspace becomes more authentic. Instead of solving a problem on paper, students solve problems by designing and redesigning to make things better. Makerspaces offere a "highly collaborative learning dynamic that is excellent for team efforts and for peer support, advice, and assistance" (7 Things You Should Know About … Makerspaces, 2013). Instead of the teacher having to solve all problems students start to work with one another. In a makerspace a teacher cannot know everything and other students start to become the experts and the teacher is just there for support. On my search for more about makerspaces I watched many TEDx videos. Many were from the adult perspective but this 13 year old kid named Logan LaPlante nailed the importance of a makerspace. He was pulled from public school and coined his type of schooling as "hackschooling." He says, "I’m not tied to one particular curriculum, and I’m not dedicated to one particular approach. I hack my education. I take advantages of opportunities in my community and through a network of my friends and family. I take advantage of opportunities to experience what I’m learning, and I’m not afraid to look for shortcuts or hacks to get a better, faster result. It’s like a remix or a mashup of learning." I believe this is exactly what we are talking about with making. Choosing our own path and following our interests. The main reason Logan discusses his education is to talk about happiness. School is not a place where many students are happy. A big problem may be that information is being thrown at students and they aren't allowed to discover it on their own. Some of the greatest minds in history did not learn by being given information. They learned by doing. Doing can happen in a makerspace. According to Krcmar (2014) Logan's talk has come at a time when many people are on the hype of finding happiness in their lives. This idea is starting to transfer to education as well. Many are looking for ways to increase happiness in the classroom. Makerspaces may offer the opportunity to provide education and happiness together which is exactly what Logan is advocating for. Sources
7 Things You Should Know About … Makerspaces. (2013, April). Retrieved June 10, 2016, from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7095.pdf Krcmar, S. (2014, October 07). The Hackschooler Goes Back to School. Sort Of. Retrieved June 10, 2016, from http://www.outsideonline.com/1926276/hackschooler-goes-back-school-sort Miller, A. (2015). What is a Makerspace? Is it a Hackerspace or a Makerspace? Retrieved June 10, 2016, from https://www.makerspaces.com/what-is-a-makerspace/ Stager, G. (2014). What's the Maker Movement and Why Should I Care? Retrieved June 10, 2016, from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3758336
2 Comments
ruralakteacher
6/12/2016 02:00:20 pm
I appreciate when a student can speak up about their education, being positive or negative. I liked what Logan Plante offered with the comment about taking advantage of opportunities to experience learning. I believe that is a key term in Makerspace because any type of "space" will lend itself to an experience that educational growth will spur from.
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Sara Lucas
6/12/2016 03:50:17 pm
Speaking up is definitely a skill students need to work on. How to speak up in a way that will help others to hear what they are saying and not just irritate them. Students need to have a voice and a makerspace could help them with communication and collaboration skill that a traditional classroom does not address.
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