Making Community While

Making Community
Makerspaces, tinkering, and Open-ended learning
Andie Townhouse
tin·ker
/ˈtiNGkər/verb
1. attempt to repair or improve something
synonyms: try to mend/improve, work amateurishly on, fiddle with,
play (about/around) with, toy with, trifle with, dally with, dabble with,
potter about with, fool about/around with, tamper with, interfere with,
meddle with, tinker at/with the edges of, adjust slightly, mess
about/around with, muck about/around with
Makerspaces Belong in Libraries!
Information literacy, digital literacy = tool literacy or
Invention literacy
Librarians are the most
helpful people in the
building! We help kids
navigate a need, and those
needs are changing.
“...but then kids will forget all about the books”
If your makerspace is in your library (or near it), then kids are still
coming to your space.
It’s about building a belief that you can love the library, regardless if you
check out a book or not.
Makerspaces draw kids who were unwilling to come… in.
Materials
In a makerspace, you might find:
Play-doh /Drones/Arduinos /Circuits/cricuts/digital fabrication/sewing
machines/spheros/makey-makeys/GoPros/felt/pipe cleaners/balsa
wood/carveys/3D Printers/GOBS OF LEGOS + more art supplies!
What Do You Do in a Makerspace?
The Simple Answer: You Make Things.
From low-tech to high-tech, projects can range across all
STEAM disciplines, even incorporating aspects of a home
economics or shop class. All it takes is a bit of expertise and
materials.
Curriculum Connections
Tinkering + inquiry = Tinquiry (new modes of pedagogy) = playing with
new thoughts, ideas, and objects.
“Wonder-driven” and prototyping solutions
Design Thinking & Project-Based
Peer-based Learning
New standards And COmpetencies hit! New modes of critical thinking!
“But I’m not creative like I was when I was Younger…”
The act of making and creating is both social and emotional. It helps kids
be the best versions of themselves by reigniting skills that many will tell
you are lost or only reserved for “true artists.”
Start Small (literally)...
Or go deep…
Have middle or high school students build A
Safe space, counseling center, or meditation
Room for the main character In Laurie Halse
Anderson’s Speak . Design-wise, how
would you incorporate calm in the face of
trauma?
But Get Started Where You’re At
Tools don’t have to be expensive.
Consider grants + mini-grants, too
alternate source of Funding.
Renting tools
Donations/Crowdfunding/PTC
You don’t need $5,000 right away for this to work
More About Tinkering on a budget...
Cardboard (from boxes that are always lying around) + $15.00 glue gun =
limitless possibilities. What about a $40.00 power cutter? Or an iPad and a
piece of green fabric for a makeshift green screen?
When you show administrators what you can do with what little you have,
then they start to see you as doing more with more.
Collaboration Culture:
Start a calendar in Google Drive. Invite teachers to book some
time in your space.
Offer “Office Hours” in or around your makerspace, even 10
minutes a day to answer questions or be a thought partner.
Share out an inventory list; let teachers know what you have.
Send a Google Form for wishlist items from others.
The Things I know For Sure...
Staffing is more important than expensive equipment.
Lead with Your empathy. Kids shouldn’t think or design or create in the
ways that you want them to.
Approach your makerspace with a lens of possibility.
Clear bins show kids what you have and make them want to create!
It doesn’t have to be perfect. Embrace Failure. Embrace Mess.
My Makerspace Progress:
It started with this cart. It was
Grant-funded by the PTC three
Years ago...
Fast Forward three years:
Flexible seating/soft seating +
Writeable and magnetic walls. New
Modes of displaying learning. Open
Workflow. Easier collaboration.
Organization:
Tools:
Equipment: