Weekly reflection  

Explore Makerspaces through a Google search and/or through your social media platform #makerspace . What resources and information can you find? Discuss the makerspace we visited and how you envision utilizing such a space in your future teaching career. 

I started this week by learning what a makerspace is. A makerspace is a collaborative experience for students to create, develop skills and solve problems. Makerspaces can be in person or online. In a classroom it might look for example if you wanted to teach your class how to make stop motion animation. The teacher would have all the lego and Ipads ready for the students, with a stop motion app or software already on the Ipads. Outside of the classroom you could have an online space for the students to post on. I think it would be a really fun idea to have the students post freely, rather than assigned postings. Watching other students share their discoveries and inquiries could be inspiring to another student. There are many benefits to makerspace, one of them being that it gives the students a chance to experiment. On an online learning platform it is always much easier to delete and restart, or save and restart, compared to on paper. However, experimentalism is a fundamental part of all makerspace, which means the teacher must ensure there are enough supplies and combinations for students to truly experiment. Many makerspaces allow children to freely explore and follow their curiosities.  

I think that fresh grade could be used as an online makerspace. I used it in middleschool, but only to post assignments. It is set up similarly to a social media account, which can be exciting for children. You set up your profile with a photo and a biography. Then you are able to post photos or videos and caption them. Another benefit to fresh grade is that parents are allowed to access fresh grade as well, so parents can stay caught up with their children’s work.  

As for an offline makerspace, I think it would be a great experience to have a free for all craft day. That means the teacher would supply as many different crafts supplies as possible, and let the students make whatever they would like. This would give the students a chance to be as creative as possible and make whatever they want. Students are able to build freely, backpedal and make changes. 

Another makerspace I thoroughly enjoyed in elementary school was the penny boat challenge. The class was divided into groups and given a specific set of supplies. Given the supplies given each group has to build the best boat they can. This is tested by how many pennies the boat can hold at the end. This was one of my favorite activities as a child, it taught creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, and teamwork.