Makerspaces in Education
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| accessed 9/29/17 https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/26621503902 |
Flipped teaching, coding, QR scanning, virtual reality, and makerspaces. What are these? Technology trends in education. Makerspaces are one trend that I have read about throughout my tech courses. So what is a makerspace? Let’s take a look at this short video.
So why have a makerspace?
In a world where we are creating educational zombies as Marc Teusch points out in his video, the question should be why not? These spaces create peer collaboration, critical thinking, building things. In these spaces, your product is not an end of unit project. You are walking into these spaces with a problem you would like to investigate, you brainstorm a solution, you build some type of prototype, you try it, and reflect on whether or not it worked. What happens if their plan doesn’t work? They start again. Failure is what drives students to persevere.
Do you think this trend is here to stay or will it fade out? What do you imagine being some pros of makerspaces? What are some challenges?
Sources:
"Designing a School Makerspace | Edutopia." 29 Sep. 2013, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/designing-a-school-makerspace-jennifer-cooper. Accessed 29 Sep. 2017.
"Classroom Maker Spaces: STEAM Re-Imagined | Scholastic." 4 Jan. 2017, https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/nancy-jang/classroom-maker-spaces-steam-re-imagined/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2017.
"Spaces that aim to boost kids' creativity - CNN - CNN.com." 18 Sep. 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/kids-makerspaces/index.html. Accessed 29 Sep. 2017.
I do believe the trend of marker space is here to see. I have seen it increased plentiful in my own children's school district. They have summer school classes on it and have dedicated space in their school for it. Would you believe the VBS (Vacation Bible School) they went to this summer was marker space themed as well?!
ReplyDeleteSome pros of marker space are collaboration, creativity, students learning it is ok to make mistakes/fail, and inspires kids to wonder. I believe these are all wonderful ways to expand a child's mind and to help them think critically. I also think it helps students think outside the box.
There are some challenges I potentially see including students getting carried away and not keeping to the task at hand, perhaps students not thinking for themselves (copy of of one another), funding, and space. The latter of which may propose marker space to not even happen at schools because there are not enough resources for material and/or space to set up for designating areas for it. Lastly, I think time is a challenge because the day is set for so much instruction for the core subjects and testing that it could be difficult to fit it in a teacher's schedule.
Teresa,
Deletefunny enough, I can believe that a makerspace setting can be found in a VBS. I was actually going down Plainfield road one summer day and some catholic school had a huge banner hanging outside their front doors "Makerspace Fair". This sparked a conversation with the friends I was meeting up with and it seems that these spaces are trendy in the Northwest and Western suburbs.
I didn't want to put out my opinions on the challenges but you're right, having the kids stay on task would be difficult (at first) but over a long period of time I think they would learn the importance of staying on task and feeling successful.
You mentioned that your childrens' school district has maker spaces. Do your own children get to explore in this space? If so, how do they feel about this space?
I think you practicing the procedures in the beginning would be key. Perhaps the beginning projects would be less involved and allowed the students to practice the procedures. I have volunteered at after school maker space activities in my own kids school. It can get very intense and chaotic, and that is with a lot of parent volunteers. i imagine when it is just you and your class or you and another teacher it can get pretty hectic!
DeleteMy kids do get to explore the marker space. I think they can do it during their PLT time. They seem to enjoy it. My son (4th grade) is more of a tinker than my 5th grade daughter. Their school is always looking for supplies from parents (excess stuff, used, etc.) to stock their marker space area, so that may help overcome one of the challenges I mentioned - free is always good.
DeleteI think the trend is here to stay. If you look at the job trends, the days of working in a cubicle by yourself are numbered. It's no longer about working on your own with no collaboration. Employees are encouraged to collaborate and are often given group projects because this gives you more perspectives and ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Teresa on the positives, these are all 21st century skills. I think another negative would be that you would take have to be thoughtful on how it is setup especially for your SPED students. I have noticed my students often copy and imitate during activities like this because they are very unsure of their abilities. They do not want to be embarrassed so they mask their lack of comprehension and follow the group. Then at the end they really have no idea what they are doing and the whole project has meant nothing to them.
Erin,
Deleteas you and Teresa pointed out, it can be time consuming and it can get hectic. I would want to try this on a smaller scale in my classroom to see how the students would engage or react. I found some articles that had suggestions for how to handle SPED students, unfortunately it suggests a co-teacher. To me that takes away from the experience because this is suppose to be self initiated. I did also read that putting up visuals and labeling helps guide SPED and ELL students.
I'm wondering if a STEAM room is similar to a makerspace? We've been asked to volunteer to create a STEAM room in our building. Apparently, Cicero West has one and they love it! I heard it is a lot of work to put one of these together but it's worth it at the end.
We have a STEAM lab at Unity. I was on the committee, it was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. My students were very excited to go in there last year. Most of the other science teachers could not see the difference between this room and their room. It's the same size, it just has a better paint job! But, it was more the change I saw in my students when we were in there. It was a new experience and it shook up the learning monotony. They were engaged the whole time, they collaborated, they were just generally excited. While I don't think it is a requirement to have a separate space, I think it helps.
DeleteI saw the Unity STEAM robotics team present at one of the board meetings and they were so excited. They showed off their stuff in front of all the people in the audience and the board with such great enthusiasm. There did not seem to be too much anxiety or nervousness among them. It was apparent that they were proud of their work and demonstrating their capabilities to everyone. It was really great to see.
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