What is a Makerspace?
A makerspace is a public space dedicated to creating and crafting. These spaces can be found on university and college campuses, public libraries, and community centres. The purpose of these spaces is to allow the public free access to tools, materials and a physical space to craft, build and test devices of all kinds. Ideally, makerspaces should be multidisciplinary in nature to allow makers from multiple disciplines and backgrounds to learn from each other and interchange ideas. The idea of collaboration in a makerspace is critical; people simply learn best when they are able to talk and exchange ideas. As an elementary school teacher teaching in a traditional classroom this idea causes me to call into question the confines and limitations of the traditional classroom space. Firstly, while we give lip service to the ethos of collaboration the idea that students should work independently still figures prominently in our assessment practices. If you look at most of the level 3-4 descriptors for the achievement levels in the Ontario curriculum, they demand that students be able to complete tasks independently. Does this not run contrary to the idea that children learn best when they are able to remix and collaborate with others?
Secondly, while most educational policy makers agree that students should be innovators, until very recently, most school settings have not allowed for children to be innovators or creators. Programs such as industrial arts and home economics have all but vanished from the school day. An entire generation of students have been deprived of daily and weekly opportunities to make something on a daily and/or weekly basis. The recent trend towards maker culture in schools and other public educational settings is a positive step in the right direction. Gatherings such as Maker Faires allow students and teachers engage in collaborative work toward the end of creating and extending new knowledge.
A makerspace is a public space dedicated to creating and crafting. These spaces can be found on university and college campuses, public libraries, and community centres. The purpose of these spaces is to allow the public free access to tools, materials and a physical space to craft, build and test devices of all kinds. Ideally, makerspaces should be multidisciplinary in nature to allow makers from multiple disciplines and backgrounds to learn from each other and interchange ideas. The idea of collaboration in a makerspace is critical; people simply learn best when they are able to talk and exchange ideas. As an elementary school teacher teaching in a traditional classroom this idea causes me to call into question the confines and limitations of the traditional classroom space. Firstly, while we give lip service to the ethos of collaboration the idea that students should work independently still figures prominently in our assessment practices. If you look at most of the level 3-4 descriptors for the achievement levels in the Ontario curriculum, they demand that students be able to complete tasks independently. Does this not run contrary to the idea that children learn best when they are able to remix and collaborate with others?
Secondly, while most educational policy makers agree that students should be innovators, until very recently, most school settings have not allowed for children to be innovators or creators. Programs such as industrial arts and home economics have all but vanished from the school day. An entire generation of students have been deprived of daily and weekly opportunities to make something on a daily and/or weekly basis. The recent trend towards maker culture in schools and other public educational settings is a positive step in the right direction. Gatherings such as Maker Faires allow students and teachers engage in collaborative work toward the end of creating and extending new knowledge.