Ch. 8 Thoughts

In chapter eight, we talked about the need for having “stuff” and making sure it is readily available for our students. The text first talked about the process of soldering and how it is a very handy and beneficial skill to know as a learner. However, I do find this type of learning to not be the most practical in a younger school setting (like the picture demonstrates). I worry that a younger student could get distracted or forget about the steps and precautions needed to use a solder and consequently burn them with the tip. In the litigious world we live in, I believe it is smarter to avoid any materials that can easily cause harm to a student and maybe focus this type of learning on older students, preferably in middle school or high school. The next item that would be great to have in a makerspace would be computers! That one seems like a no brainer, however, we do not have adequate access to these computers, proper software, and effective Internet connectivity. In my opinion, this would be the most important piece to solve in order to have a solid foundation in my makerspace. The text also talked about having proper software and to avoid free sites and I could not agree more, however, we would need to allocate money from a certain fund or even have a fundraiser to help purchase the particular software because they can get very expensive. This could be a very beneficial idea because it will get the students excited about this learning and get them motivated to learn. Some more cost effective ways to create this makerspace is to find art supplies around the house, such as hot glue guns, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and much more! We could also use old cell phones and other electronics and have students take them apart to see how much work and product goes into these electronic devices we probably take for granted. Finally, as a teacher, it is important to be aware of all of our possible resources available. We may not have particular funding for something like a makerspace, but we do have ways of getting grants and finding donors to support these educational advances. If we all work together, we can find a way to create these spaces in all of our schools and we can start by creating a makerspace in every school library so all students can have access to the space. From there, we work our way up and start accumulating new and excited gadgets to add to this space and hopefully all spaces could come equipped with all the proper tools and even a 3-D printer! If enough schools start working toward this movement, we can gain awareness of how effective this teaching style is and hopefully get more financial support from our government to fund this program.