Makerspace
Makerspace is a hands-on, student directed learning experience. Capitalizing on the student's intrinsic motivation and curiosity, the program fosters innovative thinking by challenging students to develop a concept, create a plan for project development, solve problems that arise in making a prototype, improve their plan, and finally accomplish their goal of building that project.
The Importance of Makerspace
The goal of Makerspace is to empower students to see themselves as inventors, builders and creators. Makerspace allows learning new skills through trial and error, experiencing failure of an initial idea, the exploration of possible alternatives and then problem solving to improve on the idea. The program develops self confidence and an appreciation for student's own ability to imagine, develop and build tangible projects.
How Does the Program Work?
A typical session in the Makerspace room does not look the same for every student. Some come into the space eager to build according to their own idea. Others enjoy a mini lesson on a particular topic, and then apply what they have learned to a project of their choosing. Some students might take apart an object, such as an old VCR to explore how it works. They may then rewire or repurpose the object. Still others are inspired by a "weekly challenge" activity. Weekly Challenge activities are theme-based, cumulative lessons taught in a four-week model that builds on a concept. Regardless of the type of Maker they are, all students in Makerspace learn by inventing.
Written by: Andrea Custer
Parent -- Pacific Elementary School
Written by: Andrea Custer
Parent -- Pacific Elementary School
website created by Gretchen Gabreski ©2014
