Thing 30 Maker Spaces

The middle school librarian has a very successful makerspace program that has been going on for at least five years.  We have collaborated and for a couple of years once a month we would have a program in the elementary school and she and some of her students would come over and help facilitate them.  This collaboration was successful but it wasn't part of my schedule and I didn't like how I had to change people around to make it happen.  It also was purely by project and there was not a designated area or materials for a makerspace. 

We have something at our school called an IDEA grant.  The art teacher and I put in for money for a makerspace.  We received $8000.00 and a commitment from the PTO to donate $500.00 a year towards the program.   Unfortunately, the art teacher's schedule did not allow for her to participate.  I forged ahead mainly because I finally figured out a way that I could do a makerspace with  my schedule of 34 classes per week and no aid.  I participated in our summer PD on Schoology and designed a class in Schoology that is, for the most part, student managed.  Frankly, what I wanted to avoid the most was managing more STUFF.  So, with that priority in mind, I designed the class by belts and each belt is a kind of activity and is organized with the belt on it for a student to clearly see.  

Each belt represents a different activity that students do.  For example, the white belt represents a desire to begin the study of STEM.  Students must familiarize themselves with the STEM process through a variety of activities and learn how to post a video of him/herself.  To earn each belt, students must submit a video that shows what they did and how they applied the STEM process. The video submission prompts the teacher/facilitator to review the video and award that belt color.  Other belts are: yellow belt = puzzles; orange belt = building fundamentals; green = sewing, origami and more; blue = circuits; purple = 3d pens; red = coding; and black is make your own project/activity to add to a belt OR go into a class and teach one of the STEM activities to younger children.

Linda and I have spent a great deal of time discussing how do you assess STEM? I feel that you have to have something and finally came up with the video where kids talk about what they did and how they applied the STEM process. I have a little guide to help them form their thoughts about it before they do the video.

I had all of the fourth grade students participate in the white belt during a library class and I have some core students who come weekly. I am still working on the best way for kids to access the materials and the class. Right now I have fourth grade teachers sending 5 kids per class once a week at a certain time. I usually only have two teachers participate, which is fine. I know that if I offered to take the whole class (without the teacher, of course) I would have more participation but I am not willing to do that. I want students who are interested in being there. I have one student who has progressed to the purple belt and will be done with all of them by the end of the year. I plan to have an award for this at the fourth grade awards ceremony in June.

The nice thing about Schoology is it is easy to revise and improve each year or time you use that activity. I have joined a couple of maker space facebook groups and they have been excellent in terms of suggestions of what to buy. I also submitted this program to ISTE and it was accepted as a poster project. I hope to have this makerspace in the shape I want it to be by the time I retire, which is not that far away!