Makerspaces, continued...

Well, my interest in makerspaces has only grown.  I love the cooperative, creative atmosphere makerspaces offer, and I am excited by the possibility of using materials to exhibit learning.  We are so lucky to have Rochester Makerspace, a not for profit community space with equipment available to all in our community.  This page describes the organization's goals and services it provides: http://www.rochestermakerspace.org/faqs/

I visited Rochester Makerspace a few times and met the people who started it and who use it most frequently.  I spoke with the founder to learn about his vision and describe my own interest in Makerspaces.  The conversation ended with the hopeful possibility of bringing some of my students on a field trip to the space!  We are very excited about this possibility and I have been doing a lot of work to make this happen.  I have a friend who is very active with them, and she has been helping with the work necessary on their end to allow the field trip to happen.

Also, I wrote a grant project that utilizes the idea of makerspaces to purchase books and materials so that students at this school are able to participate in makerspace type activities.  I don't want to talk specifics about my planning work until I am able to secure a grant, but do think I will be able to find someone to fund it. 

Rochester Makerspaces is interested in utilizing some of the activities I am planning to do with my students and offering these activities in their space to young children as a way to raise money to purchase additional equipment.  This is an interesting idea and I am considering moving forward in this manner to build relationships and community.

I visited Rochester Makerspace with my own two children, and they were scanned and reproductions of their heads and shoulders were made on the 3-D printer.  It was quite cool.  I hope to ad photos to this blog post in the near future.

Now I have a date set for a field trip.  I am bringing 18 second grade students, and we will explore possible careers in the STEM areas.  More info to follow.