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I define a makerspace as a unique learning environment that encourages tinkering, play, and open-ended exploration for all. When planning and creating a makerspace, it is critical to remember that what we are really creating are unique learning environments. Nearly nine years ago, I embarked on my own makerspace journey. Although I established our first makerspace around then, it has taken me all these years to continue to develop my body of work, to help to ensure that our makerspace and others continued to evolve and flourish. In 2018 , I published my second makerspace book, The Kickstart Guide to Making GREAT Makerspaces, driven by the philosophy of not just creating makerspaces, but creating GREAT makerspaces, ones that are are unique, meaningful, relevant to their school communities, as well as sustainable into the future. In that book, I outlined what I determined to be the 7 attributes of a GREAT makerspace: Inspiring, Intentional, Personalized, Deep, Differentiated, Empowering and Equitable. When we integrate these attributes, we create exponentially powerful learning environments. Together, these attributes ensure that your makerspace will be impactful. As I continue to find ways to level up my own makerspace work, I have realized just how impactful our makerspaces can be for our makers as well as the wider world.

Makerspaces that make an impact are more common than one might think. Check out this Maker Care program…STEAM + C for compassion, created by Islip, NY Library Media Specialist, Gina Seymour. Gina dedicated a portion of their space to compassionate making. Their MakerCare program provides opportunities for their students to make a difference in the community through making. Each maker project benefits a person or community agency. Over the past several years, I also have discovered the work of Inspire Citizens who through their Empathy to Impact approach, help infuse the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, global competence frameworks, and media literacy into project-based inquiry, design thinking, curricular standards, language objectives, and 21st-century learning. With their work in mind, Making the SDGs through Makerspaces was launched in Nigeria by Jacob Sule, which aimed to empower and support students in rural Nigeria to help achieve the SDGs through Makers and Design thinking philosophies.

MAKING an Impact

Laura Fleming

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Some time ago, I came across a blog post written by the amazing Mark Sparvell, in which he used the phrase, “Fundamental, not ornamental”. Anyone who knows my work, knows why this phrase would resonate with me in terms of makerspaces. My work has never been about the ornamental “stuff”, it has always been about the research, the philosophy, the pedagogy related to creating these unique learning environments. This isn’t the only reason I appreciated Mark’s post though. Mark used the phrase, “Fundamental, not ornamental”, in referring to social-emotional skills and the potential role technology can play in augmenting, extending and enhancing them. The impact makerspaces have had on mental health cannot be overlooked. When designing a makerspace it is important, especially in today’s world, to find ways to connect mental and emotional experiences to the experience you want your students to have. For example, the AISD Makerspace in Anna, Texas explored how play therapy toys can help elementary students to cope with trauma caused by the pandemic. This research led to their high schoolers designing empathetic toys to help younger children through stressful times. In addition to creating makerspaces that are impactful, we can help others and their makerspaces be impactful, as well. For example, here at Worlds of Making, with the help of donations through a fundraising campaign, we were able to MAKE a difference by raising funds for libraries in Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey. We also contributed to maker educators’ DonorsChoose.org campaigns. This campaign recently caught my eye. It was created by educator Mrs. Vislosky of Jefferson Township High School in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. Students at her school have expressed the need for a space where they can go to decompress and learn more about their SEL (Social Emotional Learning) needs, particularly in light of the COVID pandemic. They are looking to incorporate a wellness corner in their media center, which connects makerspaces and SEL.

Some important questions to consider: How do we measure the impact of makerspaces? What are our metrics as educators? Should they focus on facilities and resources? What about the equality of results, and not in terms of how much money a school spends on a makerspace, but by how much those makerspaces have taught and meant to the students, and the equality of opportunity? What mechanisms can we put into place that could assure equality of results, disregarding the fanfare for ‘the stuff’, and instead focusing on the actual impact? What strategies could be carried out to reduce the differences in educational opportunities that makerspaces provide, rather than perpetuate them? Can makerspaces do more? Can they make educational outcomes less dependent on money than they are now?

Do you know any makers that have made a difference? Share your thoughts at #Worldsofmaking.

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STEM and Education:

perspectives on how to integrate MAKE and STEM in our classrooms

Edier Gómez

In my trajectory as an English teacher, I have had the chance to try various methodologies and strategies in order to dynamize and enrich classroom instruction. From Total Physical Response to class flip, I was always looking for ways to make my students’ learning process as meaningful and enjoyable as possible. Nonetheless, little had I considered using science, engineering, and math; they entered into the equation when I started learning more about the MAKE movement thanks to American Spaces and the Binational center Colombo Manizales. After many attempts, I was able to put together some ideas on how to use MAKE and STEM for the first time in my lessons; and they did not disappoint. I was thrilled about how much fun students were having at the time they were learning English, enhancing their leadership, teamwork, creativity, and even further, developing critical thinking skills.

As I got more interested in the world of STEM and MAKE, I became particularly curious about what other places were doing in the field, or what they were making. Furthermore, I wanted to learn how we can strengthen bonds between education and STEM. It was not until very recently that I came across some places, ideas and people that are absolutely inspiring in this topic, and in the next couple of paragraphs I aim at sharing this information with you. However, first off, I would like to set your eyes on Purdue University, a public university located in West Lafayette, Indiana, in the United States. Although all of the programs they offer are high quality, this university is wellknown by their excellence in agriculture and engineering. In fact, it was ranked as No. 4 (tie) best engineering school in the U.S by the U.S News & World Report in 2022.

You may imagine from this how much the value STEM and education, and as a matter of fact, I still do not stop surprising myself every day. With the idea of providing a student-centered space for development, they have what is probably one of the biggest makerspaces in the whole county, the Bechtel Innovation Design Center. There, students have access machinery, electronics, gadgets, and a space to develop projects, explore new ideas and go steps further into innovation and creation. According to Purdue, over 5,000 students have been supported through this center, which highlights the importance of having these types of spaces and the extensive impact they can create in the community.

Figure 1: Bechtel Innovation Design Center (Purdue University photo illustration/John O’Malley & Payton Drake)

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Figure 2:Curriculum example. Image taken from www.picturestem.org

Now, talking more specifically about the college of engineering, among all the fascinating projects they have, I had the chance to learn about INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering, a unique initiative that focuses on how to integrate science, technology, and mathematics along with literacy. They help developing curricula, supporting afterschool programs and the assessing instruments and STEM policy in P-12 education (Pre-school to senior high). Many thought-provoking projects have come from them, but if it comes to STEM and education, “PictureSTEM” is the best example on how to bridge and integrate STEM and literacy meaningfully. Through the steps “define, learn, plan, try, test, decide”, they support STEM learning through literacy and the incorporation of problemsolving skills towards solving daily life problems. They demonstrate that such integration is possible and how significant it becomes in order to prepare and educate our children. I highly recommend you go and check their work as I will leave all the sources at the very end.

One last example that has inspired me on this topic has to do with teacher in the Lafayette area, Sharita Ware. She was recently chosen as 2022 Indiana Teacher of the Year, and no doubt why she was selected. By consistently encouraging her students to be creative, innovative, and courageous to think and develop their ideas, Sharita’s work ranges from designing prosthetics for barbie dolls with her 7th graders to building and programming robots with her 8th graders at school. She sets such a role model to follow in the field of education and STEM as she contributes with valuable skills and values that will be of great help for these future generations.

If the question is about how to use STEM and education as a whole, the answer is more likely still under development. There is still much to be explored, much to be researched, much to be learned. Nonetheless, the abovementioned examples are sources of encouragement for all of us to continue in the path, always providing spaces for innovation and imagination within our classes. Citing Sharita’s words from one of her interviews, a “maker space gives kids freedom. You will have desired learning outcomes, but the way that they get to that learning outcome could be totally different from student to student and group to group”, and that is exactly the beginning to support our students to becoming leaders, generations ready for what this 21st century demands, generations that want to make a change in the world.

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