Tinker Talk - What do our Makers Talk About?

Observations as a Fly on the Wall

Twice a month, our Learning Commons is overflowing with students eagerly working on projects of their own choosing. On Maker Mondays and Tinker Tuesdays, our Grade 1 - 6 students build with Lego, Makey Makeys, Little Bits, magnets, paper, yarn, Scratch, playing cards and other various materials. 

As educators, our role is to facilitate their learning by providing them with quality tools and materials as well as great questions. Each station is equipped with a set of challenges, both for the individual or for the collaborative group. Students can work alone, in partners or in larger teams. They can select any material of interest and can change stations whenever they choose, provided that they clean up before moving. 

So, what does this look like in practice? Is it chaos? Mayhem? A zoo?

Surprisingly, it is actually quite calm. Our makerspace is a productive and enthusiastic hive of activity that is both exciting and controlled. Our students never cease to amaze us with their ability to rise to our expectations! They are so busy pursuing their interests that they don't have time to make inappropriate choices! They are truly engaged in what they are making. 

Observing students as they dive into areas of interest provides us with opportunities to listen in to what they are talking about. Makerspace activities provide them with time to think about how they want a project to work and what they need to do to improve it. They also talk to each other about joint projects. We overhear comments like: "How can we make it bigger?" or "Why don't you hold this and I'll add this so that it works better..." They negotiate roles and take turns as leader and follower.

On our first ever Maker Monday, I watched a group of Grade 2 students as they were working at the 3D marble maze. The challenge invited them to make a maze that started on the table and ended on the floor. They worked tirelessly to build a fancy maze full of twists and turns. They called me over and invited me to watch them test the maze. They dropped the marble and it immediately fell out of a hole in the first section. For a moment, their faces fell as they realized that their maze didn't work. After a moment of contemplation a student announced "C'mon team! Our maze needs an upgrade!" They all hunkered down to fix the problem and create version 2.0 of their maze. 

Collaboration = Conversation

We have witnessed some of the richest discussions as teams work together to accomplish a shared goal. During the straw building challenge, students were invited to build a shelter that was big enough to fit three students. We watched teams negotiate how to build a structure that was big enough, had a door to enter and that would stand up without human assistance. Students discovered they could build faster with a person inside the structure while the other team members were building on the outside. They ran into a snag when the straws were taller than they could reach. One student suggested turning the structure on its side so that the could build along the ground and then flip it back up when they were finished. 

Conversations also involved the shapes needed to support the weight of the structure. They tried rectangles which quickly collapsed. They moved on to squares but then realized they had no opening to enter the structure. Through trial and error, they learned how to bend the straws so that they had an opening that was still structurally strong. Here they are halfway through the process:

When they had finished, they wanted to keep building. A student suggested that they add on a garage for a car they made with smaller straws. Another student suggested adding a helicopter pad as he had made a flying car out of straws.

By listening and observing students we learned that they have important questions and great ideas on how to answer them. Students working in makerspace taught me that our students are problem-finders and problem-solvers. All we need to do is to get out of their way!

The Making of a Makerspace

What is a Makerspace and Why do we Need One?

When I suggested that we set up a makerspace in our elementary school Learning Commons I was met with a few quizzical looks. At first people asked me, "What is a makerspace?" followed by "Why do we want one?"

On the surface, the concept of a makerspace seems simple: a space in which you make stuff. You might asking yourself, "How is this any different than regular work in a classroom?" Great question!

Yes, we do make stuff in a classroom. In that sense, a classroom is a makerspace. However, I still ask myself: what is being made and why? Who decides what to make and with what to make it? The purpose and person who is doing the making is what drives a makerspace.

There are many definitions of makerspace without one being more correct than the other. Diana Rendina's Renovated Learning blog offers this definition :

A makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools and materials.

This definition provides a wonderful foundation for thinking about how makerspaces facilitate learning. However, it glosses over a key element that I hope to achieve in our makerspace: student-driven learning.

In their book, Invent to Learn, Martinez and Stager (2013) wrote about the importance of students constructing their own learning:

..the power of making something comes from a question or impulse that the learner has, and is not imposed from the outside. Questions like "How can my car go faster?" or "I like the way this looks, can I make it prettier?" are treated as valid, and in fact, potentially more valid than criteria imposed by anyone else, including a teacher. Learners are empowered to connect with everything they know, feel, and wonder to stretch themselves into learning new things. We seek to liberate learners from their dependency on being taught.

 Empowering students to be in charge of their own learning? Having students highly engaged by their own questions, wonderings, and passions? This is the kind of makerspace I want for our school!

And so begins our journey of making a makerspace!

References

Martinez, S.L., & Stager G. (2013). Invent to learn: Making, tinkering, and engineering in the classroom. CA: Constructing Knowledge Press.

Rendina, D. (2016). Retrieved from http://renovatedlearning.com/2015/04/02/defining-makerspaces-part-1/