Before I could even begin planning what I put in my Makerspace, I needed to vision it in my classroom and its layout. As quoted in the article, Stocking Up School Makerspace, “Once you have a space where you and your students can work, you’ll want to outfit it with the tools, equipment, and materials your Makerspace needs in order for your students to accomplish their projects (Hlubinka, 2013).” But then all the questions arised such as, what do I even put in this area?
As I start on this route, the advice I took from the article Stockin Up School Makerspace was to, “concentrate on one or two kinds of making and stock up on the tools and materials you’d need for your students (Hlubinka, 2013).” The Makerspace I would like to focus on is electronics and understanding basic circuts, robots, coding, and microcontrollers. Some of the items may be consumable materials such as: • conductive thread 4ply and 2ply • breadboarding pins • batteries AA • batteries 9V • 9V battery snaps • battery holders • heat shrink tubing • breadboards • resistors • switches • buzzers • motors • photoresistors • jumper wires • wire • crimps • beeswax • LEDs • batteries For funding this big dream, I will have to seek help and look to community support. This could look like holding a fundraiser to get donations from families or applying for grants and scholarships to receive extra funding (Garcia-Lopez, 2013). A few I may apply for are botball robotics or Lowes Toolbox for Education (Garcia-Lopez, 2013). Realistically, I believe I could find a lot of donated tools by going around to various businesses and asking for donations or looking for second hand items. I already started a donorschoose.org account in hopes that one of my Makerspace ideas will become a reality. However, a lot of these are unpredictable and could delay the time to get this vision going. If I were to use my own funds on this I would narrow down the most important tools and what that would cost. After looking at various websites and the cost for each item, a safe budget would be around $500. This may not get all the items I’d like, but it would definitely be enough to have one or two main projects available for students to make and create. All that really matters is that students are tinkering and playing in order to develop and create their own projects. Sources: Garcia-Lopez. 2013. 6 Strategies for funding a makerspace. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/6-strategies-funding-makerspace-paloma-garcia-lopez Hlubinka, M. 2013. Stocking up school makerspace. Retrieved from http://makezine.com/2013/08/21/stocking-up-school-makerspaces/
2 Comments
Sarah K
6/25/2017 10:22:35 pm
I think your starting budget of $500 is very reasonable. That is what I'm thinking to start for my makerspace, and I agree with your last sentence, "All that really matters is that students are tinkering and playing in order to develop and create their own projects." Do you think your makerspace would be centered around your content area or do you envision it being just a place for students to come and create for anything?
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Dr. F
6/26/2017 03:32:36 pm
I think you are being realistic in your approach. Have you looked at specific costs for some of you items? Is $500 realistic after you looked into it? I like that you seem to have a focus on what your maker space will begin with as far as possible projects, like electric circuits and wearable electric circuits.
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