There’s a movement afoot in Isle of Wight County
Schools. It’s a maker movement and it’s
made its way in to many of our schools, beginning as a grassroots initiative by
a handful of teachers. We’ve been
hearing about makerspaces in the education world for the past few years, but
for people outside of education, it may be a new term to them. So what is a maker? According to our friends at 757 MakerSpace in
Norfolk, “Makers seek out opportunities to learn to
do new things, especially through hands-on, DIY (do it yourself)
interactions.” A makerspace is a place
where making occurs. It’s filled with
materials and equipment for use by makers to create and invent, with the only
limitation being their imagination and often involves robotics, coding and
programming.
One of our schools providing a MakerSpace and maker mentality for our students is Smithfield High School. Librarians Jill Peerey and Minette Brooks,
along with Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) Karen Franklin,
have started Maker Monday’s in the library during lunchtime. Students can visit the library during
lunch to unleash their creativity.
They can use littleBits and Cubelets, both are small electronic blocks that connect with
magnets to create circuits and perform certain functions. Different arrangements can create different
responses and it’s great to watch the students think through their combinations
to find out what will happen as they move parts around. They also use kits
called Makey Makey that transform ordinary household items into touchpads. Students can play a song on the piano by
tapping on bananas, or play Pac Man using oranges. If you’re scratching your head, I completely
understand. I believe you have to see
this in action to comprehend making and a makerspace. To that end, in the SHS Makerspace video, you
can see how these devices work. You will also notice a range of emotions and
skills from the students. You will see
intensity, excitement, concentration and collaboration.
Providing students access to a
makerspace helps to promote creativity and logic, key skills students need for
success during and after high school. As
we revise our instructional program to offer several new, in-house career and
technical courses, we will be adding a MakerSpace course to our
curriculum. We will also be offering
students at all levels more access to MakeSpaces and robotics. As we move toward deeper learning, with an
emphasis on project based learning, the MakerSpace movement will go from
grassroots to mainstream and that “makes” me excited about the possibilities
for our students.
