![\"makerspaces:](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Framing-Conversation-300x234.png\")
<\/div>\nWhat’s a makerspace?<\/h2>\n
A makerspace is a space for creating and making.<\/p>\n
The term “makerspaces” conjures up different images in almost everybody who uses it.\u00a0A makerspace can be many different things. Makerspaces can have all types of tools, supplies, and equipment.<\/p>\n
What does making look like in Vermont schools?<\/h3>\n- Setting behavioral expectations in a makerspace<\/a><\/li>
- How to build up STEAM<\/a><\/li>
- Making as evidence of self-direction<\/a><\/li>
- The Maker Movement and transferable skills<\/a><\/li>
- 4 ideas for\u00a0using a makerspace to support PBL<\/a><\/li>
- MakerSpace Wonderland at Crossett Brook MS<\/a><\/li>
- Making even more of “Beyond Bling”<\/a><\/li>
- Beyond Bling: how do we deepen Makerspace learning?<\/a><\/li>
- Middle grades students building a 3-D printer<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Where are makerspaces?<\/h2>\n
Makerspaces are all over! They’re a popular way to harness students’ enthusiasm for getting hands-on, and schools all over Vermont — as well as nationwide — are finding ways to build them into the learning experience. St. Albans City School and Proctor Elementary School have dedicated makerspace rooms. Rutland Town School has a mobile cart. Makerspace guru Lucie delaBruere has a whole makerspace van. Essex Middle School and Fairfield Community School have sugaring houses! That’s making.<\/p>\n
Where you make depends on what you’ve got. Make it work!<\/p>\n
Why makerspaces?<\/h2>\n
So many reasons.<\/p>\n
\n- Creates evidence of learning and a means of self-expression and reflection that can become part of a student’s PLP<\/li>\n
- Be filled with stations to explore complex objects and frameworks<\/li>\n
- Builds interest and curiostity leading to questions<\/li>\n
- Scaffold students through thinking routines and problem-solving processes<\/li>\n
- Increase possibilities for project-based learning that connects curriculum to community and invokes transferable skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Who are makerspaces for?<\/h2>\n
There are several ways to talk about *who* is making in your makerspace, and making sure that you have someone on your team who wears an equity lens in your conversations about making is helpful.<\/p>\n
Consider: who is invited? Who feels welcomed? Who shows up? And who is empowered?<\/p>\n
Without explicit attention to this question of who, you might accidentally end up creating a space that is not inclusive.<\/p>\n
These conversations are not linear or hierarchal.\u00a0 So don’t expect a linear recipe or a step by step guide. It’s important to come at this conversation from many different perspectives, each meant to get the gears turning. Frame your own conversations around making in education.<\/p>\n
How do makerspaces work?<\/h2>\n
Makerspaces work in a variety of different ways, depending on the equipment, the activities, the funding model, and the goals of the school itself.<\/p>\n
But just as important is considering how making works, itself.<\/p>\n
Different types of making<\/h3>\n
Making takes many different forms:<\/p>\n
\n- self-exploration<\/li>\n
- challenge activities<\/li>\n
- guided \/ facilitated activities<\/li>\n
- “make and take”<\/li>\n
- skill-building workshops<\/li>\n
- community builds<\/li>\n
- open making<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There are so many different ways to approach making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All about makerspaces Makerspaces! What are they, why are they useful, who are they for, and how do they work? What’s a makerspace? A makerspace is a space for creating and making. The term “makerspaces” conjures up different images in almost everybody who uses it.\u00a0A makerspace can be many different things. Makerspaces can have all … <\/p>\n
- Setting behavioral expectations in a makerspace<\/a><\/li>
- How to build up STEAM<\/a><\/li>
- Making as evidence of self-direction<\/a><\/li>
- The Maker Movement and transferable skills<\/a><\/li>
- 4 ideas for\u00a0using a makerspace to support PBL<\/a><\/li>
- MakerSpace Wonderland at Crossett Brook MS<\/a><\/li>
- Making even more of “Beyond Bling”<\/a><\/li>
- Beyond Bling: how do we deepen Makerspace learning?<\/a><\/li>
- Middle grades students building a 3-D printer<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n
<\/div>\nWhere are makerspaces?<\/h2>\n
Makerspaces are all over! They’re a popular way to harness students’ enthusiasm for getting hands-on, and schools all over Vermont — as well as nationwide — are finding ways to build them into the learning experience. St. Albans City School and Proctor Elementary School have dedicated makerspace rooms. Rutland Town School has a mobile cart. Makerspace guru Lucie delaBruere has a whole makerspace van. Essex Middle School and Fairfield Community School have sugaring houses! That’s making.<\/p>\n
Where you make depends on what you’ve got. Make it work!<\/p>\n
Why makerspaces?<\/h2>\n
So many reasons.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Creates evidence of learning and a means of self-expression and reflection that can become part of a student’s PLP<\/li>\n
- Be filled with stations to explore complex objects and frameworks<\/li>\n
- Builds interest and curiostity leading to questions<\/li>\n
- Scaffold students through thinking routines and problem-solving processes<\/li>\n
- Increase possibilities for project-based learning that connects curriculum to community and invokes transferable skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Who are makerspaces for?<\/h2>\n
There are several ways to talk about *who* is making in your makerspace, and making sure that you have someone on your team who wears an equity lens in your conversations about making is helpful.<\/p>\n
Consider: who is invited? Who feels welcomed? Who shows up? And who is empowered?<\/p>\n
Without explicit attention to this question of who, you might accidentally end up creating a space that is not inclusive.<\/p>\n
These conversations are not linear or hierarchal.\u00a0 So don’t expect a linear recipe or a step by step guide. It’s important to come at this conversation from many different perspectives, each meant to get the gears turning. Frame your own conversations around making in education.<\/p>\n
How do makerspaces work?<\/h2>\n
Makerspaces work in a variety of different ways, depending on the equipment, the activities, the funding model, and the goals of the school itself.<\/p>\n
But just as important is considering how making works, itself.<\/p>\n
Different types of making<\/h3>\n
Making takes many different forms:<\/p>\n
- \n
- self-exploration<\/li>\n
- challenge activities<\/li>\n
- guided \/ facilitated activities<\/li>\n
- “make and take”<\/li>\n
- skill-building workshops<\/li>\n
- community builds<\/li>\n
- open making<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There are so many different ways to approach making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All about makerspaces Makerspaces! What are they, why are they useful, who are they for, and how do they work? What’s a makerspace? A makerspace is a space for creating and making. The term “makerspaces” conjures up different images in almost everybody who uses it.\u00a0A makerspace can be many different things. Makerspaces can have all … <\/p>\n
- How to build up STEAM<\/a><\/li>