What is "Makerspace"?
So what is this Maker Movement and why has STEM teaching become so popular? Core Education (2014) talks about the maker movement “is all about putting the making back into learning”. Which is not a new concept if you look to theorist such a Dewey who was an advocate for hands on learning. At the heart of some of the most complex values of the New Zealand Curriculum is innovation, how do you teach children the able to come up with new ideas? A big part of this process is design thinking, critically thinking about a problem and developing a range of different solutions and selecting the best one. This is how the Maker Movement empowers children to think critically, work collaboratively and connects the digital world with the physical world. It also allows for natural integration of subjects such as science, technology, engineering and technology (STEM).
Light is all around us
Our last few Makerspace sessions have been based around light, we haven't used a picture book as an igniter but the idea of exploring this every phenomena. However we are using EPIC to learn key information about light and develop vocabulary such opaque, transparent and translucent.
Our activities this week were:
Our activities this week were:
- Capturing Shadows - this was an art inspired activity where children use solar lights and mason jars to capture shadows. By placing a solar light on top of a mason jar and then putting it on black paper, children draw all the white light they can see. After that they used chalk pastels to colour in all the shapes to create a cool piece of art.
- Animated Glow - this is a Tricia Fuglestad www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=1309390 inspired activity where the children create a picture on newsprint and then use Keynote or Puppet Pals to have a glowing object underneath.
- Playing with Refraction - this is a fun photography activity where the children explore refraction using glasses filled with water. After they have had a "play" they can really get creative with different background - I put some examples on our class blog to inspire them. 21.blogs.takp.school.nz/makerspace/light/playing-with-refraction/
- Rainbow Reflection - We love rainbow science, and this STEAM / STEM light activity using a blank CD and paper is a really fun one! Not only will they create rainbow reflections with the CD, but they’ll use paper to alter the patterns of the light.
- Exploring Electricity - During a bit of a resource clean out, we were lucky to get our hands on some electricity kits. So this activity is all about making simple circuits to make the light bulb go.
- Microscope photography- using a special microscope that attaches to your iPad, the children explore different texture inside and outside.
The Indigo Bird
This is a beautiful story about one of our mysterious endangered birds, the Takahe. I love the illustrations in the book and the stunning language which really engages the children's imagination. This week's Makerspace was inspired by the the art in the book as we had a lots of STEAM activities. Thanks to some inspiration from Paula J, I changed the camouflage activity to include a great App called KaleidaCam. I think the children that picked it were a little unsure at first, but they loved creating the different backgrounds and enjoyed the challenge of blending their animal into the background. Our activities this week were:
- Exploring symmetry using Amazograph to create a butterfly or dragonfly picture which shows symmetry. Then they needed to create their design using lego.
- Camouflage art Using the App KaleidaCam and the things on the table take some pictures of different patterns, try and make it look like a scene from a book. Then Airdrop your favourite image for them to print. Once its printed use it as a background and draw your butterfly or bird into the picture. Add some texture to your creature if you have time and paste it onto your background using foam to make it stand up.
- Salt Painting Using the art work in the story, the children were inspired to create their own butterflies, dragon flies or birds.
- Design a rocket - in this challenge they children needed to design a rocket that travelled in the air the longest. The materials they had were straws, balloons and card... see what they came up with.
Kuwi's Huhu Hunt
This is such an amazing book, fantastic language and a really relatable story that the class loved. We had great fun working with this book during the week, not only during our Makerspace session, but it created some fantastic writing opportunities. The children could really relate to Kuwi's plight to find food for her new young kiwi and loved all the play on words in the book. There are so much learning you can take from this book, I'd highly recommend using this story with your class.
Our Makerspace activities this weeks were;
Our Makerspace activities this weeks were;
- Creating a marble run using lego - this was a collaborative task which involved creating a marble run that had links to the story. Can you make a huhu log burrow? What about a story map of the story?
- Chromatography Butterfly Craft -In this science experiment for kids we’ll be exploring chromatography (separating mixtures)
- Technology challenge - can you build the biggest tower using mini marshmallows, tooth picks and apples.
- Bring the "alliteration to life" - using play-dough and stop motion animation -retell a part of the story.
Elfrida
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This week we shared this lovely story about a sheep who wanted to stand out from all the rest. Such a fun story about being an individual and not conforming to everyone else. Our four activities this week were:
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Today was our first "Makerspace Day" in our team, we decided that our children loved going to the school Makerspace, that we needed to bring it back to our class. We rotate our class around the single cell classroom's in our block, one classroom is dedicated to Makerspace, one coding and the other to writing based on the book. Today was our first attempt, and even though there were a few creases to iron out, it all went pretty well.
The children loved listening to this sweet story about Kuwi caring for her new egg and brought lots of their own understanding of the kiwi bird as well as caring for pets to the learning.
Our four tasks were:
The children loved listening to this sweet story about Kuwi caring for her new egg and brought lots of their own understanding of the kiwi bird as well as caring for pets to the learning.
Our four tasks were:
- Building a boat that would keep Kuwi's egg safe in the water
- Learning how to finger knit so they could make Kuwi's egg nice and warm
- Constructing a 3D model of an egg using lego
- Creating a Kiwi collage using a variety of materials.
Makerspace Workshop
On Friday 6th April, I was lucky to co-present with Paula Jameison to a group of educators throughout New Zealand who share a passion for creating Makerspace learning environments in their kura.
Te Akau ki Papamoa School has a very successful Makerspace which is down to all the hard work and dedication from Paula. She is my mentor and someone who I look to for inspiration. Her vision for integrating Maker culture into our curriculum is what I am trying to nurture in my own space, this is her blog site, www.takpmakerspace.co.nz/ once you visit this blog, you will see why I hold her in such high regard.
The workshop was a fantastic success, seeing how inspired other educators were when they left has inspired me to continue exploring ways to integrate Making into my team's program.
Te Akau ki Papamoa School has a very successful Makerspace which is down to all the hard work and dedication from Paula. She is my mentor and someone who I look to for inspiration. Her vision for integrating Maker culture into our curriculum is what I am trying to nurture in my own space, this is her blog site, www.takpmakerspace.co.nz/ once you visit this blog, you will see why I hold her in such high regard.
The workshop was a fantastic success, seeing how inspired other educators were when they left has inspired me to continue exploring ways to integrate Making into my team's program.
Marble Ball Run
This challenge was based around our local legend of the Three Whales. We did a lot of work around creating storyboards to understand the story which really helped them to bring the story into this challenge. We used these resources to help us understand our story - the song was created by students at our school a few years ago!
Workflow Plan
Walt: use our problem solving skills to create a marble maze game with a partner.
Skills I will need: Problem Solving & Collaboration
Attitude I will need: Curiosity & Perseverance
Your task is to create a Marble Maze Game, the theme of this game is based around the legend of the Three Whales. You are to plan, create and modify a game that helps "whales" (marbles) back to the sea.
CRITERIA:
You have hit the target when..
Decide with your partner what you want you marble maze to look like, think about these questions.
How is our game going to work?
How are we going to link it to the story of the Three Whales?
What materials are we going to need?
What do we need to organise to bring in?
By the end of this afternoon, you should know what your game will LOOK LIKE and what you need to BRING IN. Also you should have started to draw your maze.
TUESDAY today you will need to finish your planning and look at the resources you have. Once you are happy with your design you should start creating the background to your game...this it where you will show parts of the story.
WEDNESDAY - All going well, you will have finished creating the background and have started glueing some of the parts on. Today you need to glue all your parts on using PVA glue (a hot glue gun is not really necessary). You wont be able to play the game until all the glue is dried.
Skills I will need: Problem Solving & Collaboration
Attitude I will need: Curiosity & Perseverance
Your task is to create a Marble Maze Game, the theme of this game is based around the legend of the Three Whales. You are to plan, create and modify a game that helps "whales" (marbles) back to the sea.
CRITERIA:
You have hit the target when..
- the marble can be moved through the maze by tilting the game left or right.
- your game represents part of the Three Whales Story
- you have worked with your partner together to solve problems in a positive way.
Decide with your partner what you want you marble maze to look like, think about these questions.
How is our game going to work?
How are we going to link it to the story of the Three Whales?
What materials are we going to need?
What do we need to organise to bring in?
By the end of this afternoon, you should know what your game will LOOK LIKE and what you need to BRING IN. Also you should have started to draw your maze.
TUESDAY today you will need to finish your planning and look at the resources you have. Once you are happy with your design you should start creating the background to your game...this it where you will show parts of the story.
WEDNESDAY - All going well, you will have finished creating the background and have started glueing some of the parts on. Today you need to glue all your parts on using PVA glue (a hot glue gun is not really necessary). You wont be able to play the game until all the glue is dried.
