High Energy

This week the 3rd and 4th graders started on what is arguably my favorite part of every project - week 1.  I love working with them to plan new projects for so many reasons!

-They are so excited to try something new.
-They get to set their own learning goals, timeline, and outcomes (they LOVE having that much choice!)
-Their ideas are so creative!  It amazes me to see what kinds of things they come up with.  Every time something surprises me!
-They dream big!!  No one can convince that 4th grader that he can't make a hologram projector.  The girl who is just learning how to use the sewing machine has visions of Project Runway in her mind.

Every time we do this, I am reminded how important it is to give them freedom and choice in their work.  No, it's not reasonable to give them control over every part of their school day, but to have the Maker Mindset take hold, students have to be able to pursue their interests and their curiosities.  There are too many times that kids are told exactly what to do, how to create it, what it should look like, what the necessary components are and what materials they should use.  They learn so much by being able to choose these things themselves.  Many times they abandon a first plan, having realized that some part of it won't work well. . . that in and of itself is learning - evaluating, comparing, problem solving.  I provide them with guidelines, sometimes a specific challenge (a vehicle that has wheels and an axle, for example), and the rest is up to them.  I don't want them to all look alike.  I don't want them to make something to meet my expectations, and I don't want to assume everyone has the same ideas, interests, or curiosities.

Today I'm sitting at a conference in Illinois of technology teachers, integrators, and leaders.  Many of them have never heard of makerspaces or know little about them.  It is so fun to watch them play with some of our kits and equipment, and as soon as I start talking about what we do in our makerspace, they all say something along the lines of that being what they wish they'd had in school when they were kids.  Our students have no idea how fortunate they are!!

Cultivating Creativity

We recently spoke at WEMTA about the Maker Mindset, and how it's not about the space, not about the materials, not about the product, but about the process - implementing the engineering design process, learning through failures, and thinking creatively.  This year I have seen that in action from first grade through fourth grade in the makerspace, and it never ceases to amaze me.

   Last week my second grade class was starting vehicle design.  We did this same project last year in the spring, to support their science unit, so I assumed I'd see the same types of projects.  The plans blew me away!
   Their challenge is to make a vehicle that has wheels and axles as well as a body.  I've learned in my two years of doing this that the more open you make the challenge, the more learning happens.  I didn't want to tell them what materials they had to use, how big it had to be (other than they have to be able to take it home with them at the end, so it can't be enormous!) and it had to travel down a ramp.  That's it.  I provided them with research sources (Pebble Go) and we window-shopped materials to brainstorm.  From there it was up to them.

Last year I got a lot of creations that were very similar in design - cardboard boxes with various caps and lids or empty thread spools as the wheels, connected with dowel rods for axles.  There are still many of these in the plans this year, but I'm seeing that as they work, the students' minds are open and thinking creatively, and I'm watching them revise their plans to add unique elements, many of which integrate the electrical circuit kits we have in the space.  I had one pair of students immediately ask me if I had a way to make it solar powered (I bought some solar powered car kits this year that they will be using as their "research" as they design a body of their own and use the solar panel/power element from the kit to power their own creation).  I had a group that was set on creating a remote control car.  They, too, will be learning from a "create your own r/c car kit" and using the parts in their own design.  I had a student ask if he could take apart an old skateboard (yes, but only with parent permission!) to see how it works and use the pieces to create his design.  I have a group modeling their design after brush-bots and using a small motor and battery to make it go.  None of these ideas were prompted by me.  None of them were even suggested.  They got an idea in their heads and knew they were empowered to pursue it.  They knew how to research the information they needed to come up with a plan, and most importantly, they knew that their learning was not measured in the success of their end product as much as in their exploring, testing, trying, reading, discussing, and analyzing.  

Later in the week, the first graders were making their "litter bugs" for Earth Day.  Again, this is a project we did last year, so I figured the outcome would be somewhat predictable.  And again, I was proven wrong!  I have one student who designed a butterfly out of a variety of materials, but rather than stopping there, she took a box, made a habitat for it, and strung it up with fishing wire so that it was actually flying in its habitat.  Another student asked me if I could teach him how to "use electricity" to put a bulb on his firefly design so that it lit up.  One girl decided that creating a litter bug wasn't good enough for her - she wanted something more purposeful, so she made the bug's body a fabric sack, with the opening at the bugs mouth, so that it could be used as a bag to collect litter on Earth Day (so sweet!).  One boy made his bug's body out of a huge plastic tub (the Costco Pretzel kind) covered with blue fabric to match the recycle bins in our building.  He is hoping his teacher will allow them to use it as a recycling bin in the classroom to "make recycling like a fun game".  

When we implemented our makerspace 18 months ago, we saw that products created during library/tech time often looked very similar, and often used many of the same materials.  I love that we're no longer seeing that to be the norm!  And credit falls on the whole school community embracing this maker mindset, both in the makerspace and out.  So much growth for all of us in these two years!

(I'll update with pictures when the projects are complete!)