Below is a fantastic definition from makerspace.com of what makerspaces are for a community.
To describe them simply, makerspaces are community centers with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve. I teach in a makerspace environment; the only adjustment I need to make is to allow students to come in and use the shop time for their own ideas. I can see clubs and organizations utilizing the equipment. I would love to encourage young women especially to get involved in makerspace in the industrial art's shop; since that has been a recent struggle I have heard amongst educators. Ultimately it is a place where students can come to be creative. They have no restictions, no guidelines, just what the phsycologists would call "social play". I think that this would also lead to another goal of mine which is collaboration with other content areas. Once we get the students involved they will be compelled to use it in other classes as well.
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AuthorMichael S. current educator and former paratrooper Archives
November 2016
Books in my backpack..
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