Sustaining a Makerspace

A makerspace is a growing concept in education. It’s a space created in a community, such as a classroom or library, where materials are provided for students to make and explore new things. Teachers are struggling to find ways to meet the 21st century learning expectations of problem solving, creativity, and collaboration and makerspaces have started to come into play.

An article by Kristin Fontichiaro discussed how to sustain a makerspace. Students are encouraged to make things move or light up, or even just to solve an everyday problem they are experiencing by inventing or creating a solution. Technology can be extremely useful when setting up an area like this in your classroom or library. Some items though can be expensive, so you must choose them carefully. Fontichiaro (2016), states, “consider Drawdio, a nifty tool that electrifies your pencil and lets you make electronic sound with pencil lead. Cool, but at $17 per kit, it can only be constructed once and is outside the budget of many groups. By comparison, consider a $50 box of LEGOs -- endlessly reusable and flexible, whether your students are creating new worlds, responding to design challenges, or prototyping ideas for inventions.” She suggests using items that are reusable that “offer features, challenges, or options that grow as students do. Students remain interested in them for longer periods, revisiting them repeatedly as they ramp up their skills.” These can be things like

I feel like this article supports an idea that technology doesn’t always have to be the best answer when helping students achieve 21st century learning skills. It’s insightful to see that hands-on learning can be just as beneficial as educational technology. Ask for donations from the community, in the form of money or time,  and share out things that the students are making using social media if you still want to incorporate technology.

Sustaining a Makerspace Article

FONTICHIARO, K. f. (2016). Sustaining a Makerspace. Teacher Librarian, 43(3), 39-41.