MakerSpace

What is a Makerspace?

Here's the thing about Makerspaces. The word means different things to different people, but I like the definition Diana Rendina offers on her blog post about Makerspaces at Renovated Learning:

"A Makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools and materials."

My whole goal in creating a Makerspace at the GMS Library was to give students a place to extend their learning beyond their classrooms. Maybe a student wants to create wearable art but can't fit an art class into his or her schedule this semester. The Makerspace will fill that void. Perhaps a student learns about how circuits work in a science class but want to create some circuits to force an end result. The Makerspace has supplies to do that. Or maybe a student wants to learn about coding. We currently do not offer a class where that is covered, so the Makerspace has curated resources to help teach those skills.

Follow #cphsmakers on Twitter and Instagram to see what happens in our Makerspace!

What kinds of materials do you have?

We have a variety of materials to support different types of inquiry and exploration.

What do you see as the future of your Makerspace?

I plan for the Makerspace to be very student-driven. I want them to be able to explore what they're interested in. If I had to guess, I believe we'll see some 3D modeling in our future, which will hopefully lead to 3D printing. I also think we'll see some video game programming and interest in robotics as we move forward. I know for sure that what was once an audio/visual storage room will become, at least in part, an extension of our current Makerspace. The wall is already green, so it's like having a built-in green screen, and I'd like to add some audio recording equipment too.