Another Maker Day Complete

Mark another schoolwide Maker Day complete. In the past you have read some of my notes on the topic of Makerspaces and the associated benefits of employing the maker mentality when solving a problem. The design of our Makerspace days stems from our school's research on The Maker Movement. The Maker Movement is a technological and creative learning revolution that is underway around the globe. Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager write, in Invent to Learn, that “Maker classrooms are active classrooms. In active classrooms one will find engaged students, often working on multiple projects simultaneously, and teachers unafraid of relinquishing their authoritarian role. The best way to activate your classroom is for your classroom to make something.”

What exactly is a Maker and what happens during Makerspace days? If you search a thesaurus for the word “make” you will find a plethora of great synonyms: create, cause, assemble, manufacture, achieve, invent, generate, produce, craft, build, construct, or generate, and, that is exactly what happens during Makerspace Days. These days are designed to create an environment where students are only limited by their imaginations. It is a time that allows for exploration of all of the aspects of STEM–Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math–and sprinkles it with imagination for an exploration of “what if.” At the J. Turner Hood Elementary School, our Makerspace Days are designed to inspire students to become participatory learners to uncover their talents, needs, and interests by making, producing, solving, creating, collaborating and thinking. During these days we focus on "problem-solving” Recently at the Hood School we mixed up students and staff from across grades and classes and presented a problem, which was to create items that someone would need to survive in arctic conditions.

I was able to interview some of our students and all reported that they enjoyed the experience. Corrina from grade 3 and Ethan from grade 2, briefly shared their thoughts on the day with me. Ethan noted that he thought today was a great experience and that he was able to build a ladder out of dry spaghetti and tape to help solve the problem that was presented. Corrina also reported that she enjoyed working with other students with a different skillset.

The staff reported that it was a well-organized, educationally beneficial event. Cooperation between different age level students, problem-solving, cooperative learning and engagement were cited as major success’. Mrs. Wright, a first-grade teacher, cited the clear expectations and the practices utilized to foster collaboration within her classroom groups as well as the individual groups in her classroom.

Our internal Makerspace professional learning community sponsored the day. This amazing group of individuals was able to create a meaningful and engaging school-wide activity and I am proud of their efforts.

Please stop by the school to look at our students’ amazing creations and look at the Hood School twitter account for some more amazing photos.