Known also as fab labs, tinkering areas, or hackerspaces, makerspaces are generally areas where people can gather to make, create, and experiment with a variety of materials and tools.
As the name suggests, makerspaces are spaces where people can make stuff. While these creations are often physical things, digital productions can also be included. Varying in size, equipment, budget, location, and audience, makerspaces generally have one thing in common; they are places for people to gather to collaborate in the act of creating.
The term makerspace can be used to describe a whole range of spaces that vary from entire buildings and rooms to dedicated room corners, carts, and tubs. Makerspaces can be found in schools, libraries, classrooms, museums, community spaces, and even trucks and buses. The materials within a makerspace also vary quite drastically from inexpensive or free materials like recycled cardboard, to more costly tools such as 3-d printers.
In schools, makerspaces can be located in libraries, dedicated rooms or spaces, and in individual classrooms. If there is not enough space for a permanent makerspace, flexible alternatives such as carts or tubs can help alleviate challenges such as these. While makerspaces aren’t necessarily new in schools, their popularity is growing greatly as 21st century skills becoming increasingly important in education.
Makerspaces are significant for education because when they are used to their full potential, they can help students develop critical 21 century skills such as collaboration, problem-solving skills, perseverance, and creating thinking. Makerspaces are environments that can foster meaningful and authentic learning through the implementation of STEAM pedagogical approaches.
Drawing on constructivist and constructionist theories of learning, makerspaces allow for hands-on active learning through the creation of things. Both Jean Piaget’s Constructivism and Seymour Papert’s Constuctionism emphasize learning through active construction and interaction with objects. By allowing students to experiment and play with materials in the makerspaces, teachers can leverage these theories to encourage deep and meaningful learning.
Makerspaces offer a wide array of opportunities for creating so they can easily support valuable pedagogical approaches such as student centered and project-based learning. Additionally, a well-designed makerspace is likely to have low floors, high ceilings, and wide walls. The concept of low floors and high ceilings was originated by Papert. “For a technology to be effective, he said, it should provide easy ways for novices to get started (low floor) but also ways for them to work on increasingly sophisticated projects over time (high ceiling)” (Resnick, 2020). Resnick (2020) has suggested the addition of a third dimension to the metaphor, wide walls which enable a large variety of work to be explored and created. In terms of makerspaces, it is important that they include a variety of low or no tech materials as well as high tech materials. This will ensure the makerspace is accessible for a variety of users while also allowing for a breadth of projects.
- Visit a local makerspace to get inspired. Reach out to other schools that have makerspaces to learn from them or visit a makerspace in your city. While these community spaces often charge a membership, you may be able to schedule a brief visit for free. Locate a makerspace near you
- Start small – dedicate a table or corner in the classroom to a makerspace, if this is too much, consider a cart or tub that can be easily moved around.
- John Spencer recommends starting with a temporary makerspace like creating a mobile makerspace with a cart or starting with a single maker project. Listen to him here https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/makerspace/
- Your makerspace doesn’t need to be finished for you and your students to start using it. You can continue to add to your makerspace as you learn more about the needs and interests of your students. Additionally, having students involved in the design of the makerspace can help them take ownership of the space and be responsible for its maintenance.
- Create rules and routines for using the makerspace and be sure your students know them. Some important elements to include are safely using the tools and responsibility for tidying the materials.
- Allow your students time to play with the materials especially when you first introduce the makerspace. This is also a good chance to reinforce rules and routines.
- You don’t need a lot of money, collect donations of materials, use recycled materials, use what is already in your school
- If you are asking for donations from families, be sure to specify that items should be empty and clean. You don’t want old yogurt stink in your classroom!
- Below are lists of various supplies that are commonly used in makerspaces. The following do not represent exhaustive lists, nor do they reflect the need to acquire all of these materials to run a successful makerspace. Use these lists as inspiration but do not feel limited to the materials here.
No Tech Makerspace materials
- Cardboard (recycled from food boxes, shipping boxes, or other packaging)
- Cardboard tubes
- Paper, cardstock
- Newspapers
- Styrofoam packaging
- String
- Yarn
- Thread
- Ribbon
- Tape (packaging tape, masking tape, duct tape)
- Glue (white glue, hot glue, glue sticks)
- Fabric scraps
- Felt
- Buttons
- Balloons
- Magazines
- Bottle caps
- Cans, bottles, and/or food storage containers
- Milk/juice cartons
- Egg cartons
- Popsicle/craft sticks
- Old cds
- Paper bags
- Old toys
- Scrap wood
- Nature items (pinecones, sticks, leaves, stones)
- Drawing supplies
- Paint
- Scissors
- Rulers & measuring tapes
- Needles (sewing, knitting, crochet hooks)
- Looms
Low & High Tech Makerspace Materials
- Makey Makey
- Micro:bit
- Green Screen
- Microphone
- 3-d printer
- Printer
- Paper circuit materials (LEDs, copper tape, coin cell batteries)
- Squishy circuits
- iPads, tablets,
- Laptops or computers
- Cricut
- Ozobot
- Sphero
- Dash & Dot
- Lego
- K’Nex
- Bloxels
References
Resnick, M. (2020). Designing for wide walls. Medium. https://mres.medium.com/designing-for-wide-walls-323bdb4e7277
Credit:
Guest post by UBC MET student, Lexie Tucker. Peer Mentor 2021-23
Video by Janis Sawatzky, UBC BEd 2014, Tech Integration Facilitator, 2019
