Building a Community of Makers

The makerspace is beginning to take shape.  The space is being organized so the students can immerse themselves in the maker materials and supplies. Just like inside the classroom, surrounding students with books motivates them to read. Surrounding them with tinkering tools motivates them to create!

The makerspace materials have been in boxes and behind closed doors. Soon, the materials will be moved into an easily accessible area in the Maker Space.  To make the learning visible, there will be spaces in the area to showcase  student work and tinkering ideas.

As we continue to move forward and organize our Maker Space, it is also important to provide opportunities for our teachers to actively engage in the learning.  Today was the first opportunity for teachers to take part in a Lunch and Learn session which explored Ozobot.  Ozobot is a pocket-sized coding robot that uses colour patterns to travel over surfaces.  This learning opportunity allows for teachers to engage in the same style of learning that they are potentially designing for their students.  This was the introduction to Ozobot and the next session will focus on how can Ozobot be used in storytelling.

What is a Maker and what happens in the "space"?

If you search a thesaurus for the word “make” you will find many great synonyms: create, cause, assemble, manufacture, achieve, invent, generate, produce, craft, build, construct, or generate. And that is exactly what happens in a Makerspace. It is a learning environment where you are limited by your imagination. A makerspace mixes Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math and sprinkles it with imagination for an exploration of “what if!”