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/