Week 7: What are the rules for your makerspace?Sitka School Districts vision is to, “Foster each child’s maximum growth in academics, social-emotional and physical wellbeing. Prepare children for their chosen careers, and inspire them to become active, informed community members by providing: Relevant, innovative, and engaging learning opportunities; Clear goals and high expectations; Opportunities for collaboration among students, parents, staff, and community using an active outreach to stakeholders; and, A culture of respect for self and others, and no tolerance for bullying. The Makerspace in my classroom will be developed to support and enhance these visions. Though Makerspaces can be a multitude of themes and ideas, the focus of this year’s Makerspace will be electronic exploration. To name a few projects students can work on:
The vision statement of my Makerspace is to, “inspire, create, design, tinker, and take chances all while engaging the mind in electronic exploration (Fleming, 2016).” The rules in the space are limited to the vision statement. The less rules I enforce, the more natural creation will occur. I want my students to take chances and go for the unknown. They may fail and have to try again, but the struggle is what helps students make relevant connections (Martinez, 2013). The greatest accomplishment of this Makerspace would be to inspire students to do more, learn, or create more. “A funny thing that happens when you make something, particularly something of technological nature. You are inspired to learn something else (Martinez, 2013).” If one students leaves my Makerspace feeling like they learned something new or found a new interest, then this is precisely what my district’s vision is encouraging. With a few tools, resources, and support, this Electronic Exploration Makerspace will succeed beyond measure. Sources: Arduino http://www.arduinoclassroom.com/ Electric paint https://www.bareconductive.com/shop/electric-paint-50ml/ Fleming, Laura. 2016. Makerspace vision statement. Retrieved from http://worlds-of-learning.com/2016/04/17/makerspace-vision-statement/ Makey-Makey https://shop.makeymakey.com/ Martinez, S. & Stager, G. (2013). Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, And Engineering In The Classroom. Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press. Kindle Edition.
3 Comments
Mariah Smith
7/2/2017 09:37:03 am
It seems that the main projects you have in your makerspace does not have too many safety issues. Would you agree? I like Sitka School District's rules/visions and it is great that you are able to adopt these for your makerspace. I think districts love it when you use their stuff and having a unified vision. Nice work!
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7/2/2017 11:22:15 pm
I like that you connected your district vision to your Makerspace purpose. This is a great start and will help you get money from you district when needed. I like that you have few rules for what students can do, but have you thought about what issue may come up that could become a problem? You may want to create procedures instead of rules.
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Dr. F
7/12/2017 02:57:57 pm
Good idea to tie into existing rules and requirements. Would suggest adding some safety rules.
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