Problem of Practice: How can we use makerspaces to support curriculum and project-based learning?


District: New Hyde Park-Garden City Park

School: Hillside Grade School

Facilitator: Tom Troisi

Principal: Beth Torreano

Teachers: Lauren Stillman


At Hillside Grade School we discovered that our current program did not have a structure or sufficient materials to support a Maker Space for all students. With a 4th Grade pilot class, I was able to successfully facilitate a makerspace

lesson (building a structure). Students were broken up into groups and given 10 minutes to build a structure with various materials (Keva blocks, Kńex, wooden blocks, Rok blocks, rulers, yardsticks, paperback books). The structures were measured and each group repeated the process to build a taller structure.


Action Research


Lesson Plan