Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

The New Librarian: How I created a makerspace

As an elementary educator for most of my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with a variety of learners—from inner-city students in North Carolina to university-level students in Chicago—but I found my true calling as the librarian at Hubbard Woods Elementary in Winnetka, Illinois. I’ve been called the “Willy Wonka of school librarians” because I transformed our traditional library into what I call an IDEA (Innovation, Design, Engineering, and Art) Lab complete with flexible furniture, robotics, engineering tools, iPads, laptops, and sewing machines.

To get started, I used my experience as a classroom educator to create a cross-curricular library curriculum that supports classroom teachers’ lessons, marrying the idea of books and bytes. Daily activities include robot bowling, using robots to paint pictures, and filming and producing music videos staring (you guessed it) robots!

For other districts that want to turn their libraries into IDEA labs, here are some insights into how we made it all happen.…Read More

4 considerations for your first makerspace

The benefits of hands-on, active learning are firmly established, yet a lot of difference exists between being able to touch something and being able to create something. The latter allows students to practice skills in demand in the modern economy.

The exhibitor floors at ed-tech conferences provide an inspiring snapshot for the rise of skills-based learning options and environments across the American educational landscape. Educators and schools are realizing they need to provide more experiential learning experiences for the next generation of makers. One way is through learning environments called makerspaces.

What is a Makerspace? …Read More

8 tips to help create and sustain a makerspace

Though makerspaces are becoming more mainstream, creating and maintaining one could overwhelm educators who are starting from scratch.

Aside from the technology tools and other resources that make up the space, it’s wise to have a plan in terms of when students will use the space, how it will be shared, where funding will come from, and how students will demonstrate what they are learning.

A makerspace is loosely defined as an area in which people–in this case, students and educators–use creativity, technology and computing to work on different projects and ideas, said October Smith, the K-12 science coordinator in Lamar Consolidated ISD, during a TCEA 2017 session.…Read More

5 tips for creating a makerspace for less than the cost of an iPad

You don’t need power tools and 3D printers to start a makerspace. Instead, get creative

Where others see trash, I see treasure. Reusing, repurposing, and recycling items that can be found in the kitchen garbage can, on the curb, or collected by friends and families helps educators to save money while protecting the environment.

Today, our library makerspace has developed into a 21st century learning laboratory, with funding from grants and through the generosity of individuals and organizations that support our DonorsChoose projects. But it wasn’t always this way.

In 2013, I began creating a makerspace in our library with only recyclables such as yogurt containers, bottle caps, and toilet paper tubes that I had been saving over the summer. I scoured the library storage cabinets to find office supplies such as markers, crayons, paper clips, rubber bands, glue, and scissors. Then I began raiding my own craft supplies. There was a physical space, and students were making things. I had a makerspace.…Read More

Dept. of Ed launches makerspace design challenge with $200,000 in prizes

White House competition is giving schools the chance to design and realize the perfect makerspace

A new Department of Education-sponsored challenge is letting high school students design the makerspace of their dreams — with $200,000 going to as many as 10 winning schools to help turn their plans into reality.

The competition, called the Career Technical Education (CTE) Makeover Challenge, was recently announced by Acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr, as he called for the re-authorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which provides more than $1.1 billion for career and technical education programs in grades 7-12 and in post-secondary institutions.

For the challenge, entrants must sketch out their ideal makerspace and make it work within existing space already available. Successful makerspaces will focus not only on the tools (there are no requirements for specific pieces of technology) but on the process of manufacturing, testing, and demonstrating ideas. Part of the challenge will be turning traditional school spaces, such as libraries or classroom, into modern makerspaces, which can be shared by students and staff alike. Students will also need to consider how their model can be scaled and replicated by other schools.…Read More

Editor’s Picks 2015, No. five: Journey to the student-centered makerspace

Explore a collaborative makerspace where students design the space and take charge of their learning

Ed. note: This year the editors selected ten stories we believe either highlighted an important issue in 2015 and/or signaled the beginning of an escalating trend or issue for 2016 (look for No. 1 on Dec. 31). The modern makerspace exploded this year, popping up in schools across the country and snagging a spot on the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report as a trend to watch. In this piece, educator Abbe Waldron takes the concept further, using students to lead the transformation.

makerspace-studentsWhether you know it or not, your students are already making things outside of school. From digital animation and programming to video production and duct tape crafts, it’s surprising the number of outlets students have found to vent their creativity.

So I learned when my school, Wamogo Regional High, decided to harness this expression productively by designing a student-centered makerspace for collaboration, creation, and problem-solving. We wanted a place where students could access materials, equipment and supplies to explore their interests and take on new challenges. And we wanted to create an environment where students could extend their learning, take risks, and build capacity as leaders.…Read More

5 steps for creating a custom makerspace

Start your makerspace on the right foot with these steps

makerspace-customA couple of years ago, my son won an award in preschool for being “Eager to Learn.” I remember having such mixed emotions on the day he won the award. Of course I was beyond proud of him, but I also could not help but wonder if his schooling would allow him to carry and sustain that innate zeal for learning with him as he came to face the rigors of the Common Core and standardized testing.

It was about this time that I began my job as media specialist at New Milford High School, and my own worries about my son, combined with New Milford’s desire to reinvigorate their school library, made me more passionate than ever about forging schools that work for kids.

I believe that every child has the right to invent, tinker, create, innovate, make, and do. The maker movement has created opportunities for all educators to give students authentic learning opportunities that go beyond the typical classroom experiences and to rethink traditional learning environments to include those that nurture the kinds of creativity and innovation that will benefit our students both in school and beyond. We know children learn by exploring and playing and doing and making and that these kinds of things lead to deeper engagement. The maker movement embodies opportunities for experimentation and innovation to occur across all grade levels and all content areas.…Read More

Making hard programming easier for novice makers

Microcontroller programming is useful but complicated for makers. New tools can make it accessible to all

microcontroller-programmingWhen I designed the curriculum for my middle school Physical Computing course, I envisioned microcontroller programming as the pinnacle of student progress in the course. A microcontroller is essentially a tiny computer on a circuit board. They usually retail for under $50, and they allow students to connect sensors, motors, LEDs, and other electronics connected to IO pins by writing code and uploading their code to the board. Arduinos, Humming Birds, and Raspberry Pis are examples of popular microcontrollers.

I felt that if I could get my students to the point where they could read sensor input from the physical world, process that data on an Arduino board, and execute instructions based on it, they would have developed a great understanding of the fundamentals of the course. I felt that these skills would transfer to nearly any electronics task, and with additional research, my students would be able to invent and build nearly anything they wanted to.

The problem is that microcontroller programming is complicated in several ways. Also, unlike the video game controllers or battery powered cars that students were building earlier in the course, the concept of what an Arduino board is, what it does, and why they should care, is completely foreign to most students.…Read More

Journey to the student-centered makerspace

Explore a collaborative makerspace where students design the space and take charge of their learning

maker-spaceWhether you know it or not, your students are already making things outside of school. From digital animation and programming to video production and duct tape crafts, it’s surprising the number of outlets students have found to vent their creativity.

So I learned when my school, Wamogo Regional High, decided to harness this expression productively by designing a student-centered makerspace for collaboration, creation, and problem-solving. We wanted a place where students could access materials, equipment and supplies to explore their interests and take on new challenges. And we wanted to create an environment where students could extend their learning, take risks, and build capacity as leaders.

As we designed our makerspace, it was important to consider how our program would fit with both the established core values of our school and our 21st century learning expectations, such as information literacy, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and community and civic responsibility. We knew it all began with the students.…Read More