Bringing Learning to Life through Makerspaces

For decades, school buildings have incorporated common spaces where students can explore and learn outside the classroom. Libraries, for examples, are repositories of literature, textbooks, reference materials, and all varieties of printed text. Computer labs contain collections of desktops or laptops that students can access to practice typing or coding skills or to do research or work on a wide variety of technology-based projects. Alongside libraries and computer labs, the makerspace has emerged as a new such area in schools. Dale Dougherty, who coined the term Maker Movement to describe this growing trend, explains the idea behind makerspaces. “I have been focusing on the importance of creating a space where kids have the opportunity to make -- a place where some tools, materials, and enough expertise can get them started. These places, called makerspaces, share some aspects of the shop class, home economics class, the art studio, and science labs. In effect, a makerspace is a physical mash-up of different places that allows makers and projects to integrate these different kinds of skills (Dougherty, 2013, p.8). Designed to foster twenty-first century skills like critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication, makerspaces afford students a hands-on environment where they can explore, experiment, design, produce, and solve problems. In a makerspace, students are “focused on using tools and materials to turn their ideas into real products through self-design and production, as well as cooperating and sharing their experiences with others in the process” (Tan, 2016, p.89).

The look of a makerspace varies widely depending on its focus. Generally, however, maker spaces are dedicated rooms or parts of rooms where students can come together to use the instruments and materials provided to tinker, create, solve a problem, or produce a product. Tables and chairs are grouped together for collaboration, encouraging students to “learn from each other as much as they do through experimentation and not being scared to fail and try again” (Strycker, 2015, p.29). Specialized tools and materials, whether they be basic classroom staples like paper and tape or high-end electronic equipment like 3D printers, are accessible and shared among students. 

From her extensive research into the use of makerspaces in education, Jennifer Cooper outlines six important considerations when designing a maker space in a school setting: the range of subjects that will be taught, the tools which are most needed, the profile of students who will be using the space, the time that it will be occupied, where it would best be located, and how it will be constructed (2013). Once the physical space is set up and ready to go, their implementation allows for an integrated pursuit of disciplines and topics. “Diversity and cross-pollination of activities are critical to the design, making and exploration process, and they are what set makerspaces and STEAM labs apart from single-use spaces” (Cooper, 2013). 

Makerspaces emphasize the process of creating over the end result. AnnMarie Thomas, a pioneer in the maker movement, “advises educators not to get hung up on the final product. Making involves the need to make mistakes and learn how to work around them, even if the final classroom product is not optimal” (Pocock, 2016, p.37). The process involves tenaciously persistent creativity, inquiry, and experimentation. Mark Hatch explains that the key question behind making is “how can we collectively use our creativity to attack the world’s problems and meet people’s most urgent needs” (Hatch, 2013, p.10).

Makerspaces have exploded in popularity in recent years, and their benefits to learning have shown to be substantial. “Makerspaces not only give students the access they need, they encourage them to explore their own interests, allowing them to have a say in their own learning, which they may not get in a traditional classroom” (Zimmerman, 2018). When students are able to drive the inquiry, they are invested in the process and are likely to get much more out of the experience as a result. “Early evidence suggests that teens who are engaged in interest-driven making activities demonstrate greater constructive, critical and social dispositions and are more likely to be successful in college and active in their communities” (Rainey, 2014, p.1). Makerspaces provide exciting new opportunities for students to develop creativity and problem solving skills that will have far-reaching applications in their future.

References

Cooper, J. (2013, September 30). Designing a School Makerspace. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/designing-a-school-makerspace-jennifer-cooper

Dougherty, D. (2013). The maker mindset. In M. Honey & D. E. Kanter (Eds.), Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of STEM innovators (pp. 7-11). New York. Routledge.

Hatch, M. (2013). Maker movement manifesto: Rules for innovation in the new world of crafters. McGraw-Hill.

Pocock, J. (2016). Maker Movement 2.0. ASEE Prism, 26(3), 34-37.

Rainey, L. (2014). The Maker Movement: Lessons for Educators.

Strycker, J. (2015). Makerspaces: The Next Iteration for Educational Technology in K-12 Schools. Educational Technology, 55(3), 28-32. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44430369

Tan, M., Yang, Y., & Yu, P. (2016). The influence of the maker movement on engineering and technology education. World Trans. Eng. Technol. Educ., 14(1), 89-94.

Zimmerman, E. (2018, September 28). How Makerspaces in Schools Help Students Learn to Code. Ed Tech Magazine. https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2018/09/how-makerspaces-schools-help-students-learn-code-perfcon