News and events
July 2022 - Robot Olympics at the Maker Festival
Harriet Bines, Maker{Futures} Programme Assistant
On the 7th July, Maker{Futures} and Arbourthorne Community Primary School held the ‘Robot Olympics’. A gadgety, electronic, maker festival to celebrate the culmination of their year becoming Sheffield’s first Maker school.
Cardboard workshop with Jayne
Being a Maker School is a growing movement internationally, and entails a maker-centred learning approach for primary education. Children learn by doing (through exploration, skill builders and tinker time) and at the same time develop the skills and knowledge to create, make and mend things. They also develop essential skills for the 21st century such as critical thinking and problem solving.
Amazingly, all classrooms at Arbourthorne now have their very own makerspace for children to tinker in. This sets a brilliant precedent for other schools because making can enhance all areas of the curriculum. Read more about our lead Maker School here: Arbourthorne - A Maker School.
To celebrate, we set up a carousel of tech-based challenges for the whole school. Arbouthourne’s artist in residence, Jayne, held a cardboard workshop for pupils to imagine and design ‘new school spaces’ - a theme that classes at Arbourthorne have been exploring over the past few weeks. Each class presented their ideas at the festival and TTS Resources donated coding and electronics prizes.
Can you complete the challenges in the robot olympics? Our first station was Micro:bit Robots which was about capturing the emotions of our mechanical friends. Pupils programmed a micro:bit (a pocket sized computer) to show different emotions on the LED display output. Sad, happy, shocked, confused…the robots had it all going on. Children learned how to use loops to make instructions run forever.
Our second challenge was an interactive play doh maze: a collaboration of Makey Makey, Scratch and squishy circuits. Children worked together to lead a magnet through their maze - but touch the sides and you heard a funny noise through Scratch.
Pupils also made binary code bracelets, where they used code to represent their initials using two colour beads. Binary code is how information is stored inside computers using 0’s and 1’s (bi means two). It is integral to the world of computing. We had some nifty codebreakers at Arbourthorne. You can have a go at this activity using the worksheet below.
The next challenge was about testing robotic strength. Can you build something using Strawbees and then test it's strength using a robotic arm? Grab, release, lift and lower… Children learned about the 6 degrees of freedom in the human body and how these motions are mimicked in the robotic arm to achieve the elbow and wrist motion.
Finally, pupils played with Sphero, our robot ball equipped with a gyroscope and accelerometer in a game of crazy golf. There weren’t many holes in one but the children were certainly good at dodging obstacles. Our other robots Cubetto, Dash, and the ozobots also made an appearance in a shady spot of the playground.
The Maker Festival was a cyber celebration of all that Arbourthorne has achieved on their journey to becoming a Maker school. Arbourthourne, working in partnership with The University of Sheffield will soon go on to help other schools become Maker Schools.
Can you write a secret message in binary code?
June 2022 - The Maker{Home} project
Harriet Bines, Maker{Futures} Programme Assistant
Have you ever thought of the home environment as a space to develop STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) skills? Lately, we have been helping schools to engage the whole family in STEAM through making at home.
According to a report published by the STEM Next Opportunity Fund (‘Changing the Game in STEM with Family Engagement’, April 2019), sustained family engagement from early childhood is associated with greater educational and career outcomes. Likewise, when families make together, they can build up their knowledge across STEAM which in turn can foster mindsets such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving that are integral for the future success of pupils.
‘Make a Maker{School}' is a Maker{Futures} project funded by The University of Sheffield, Garfield Weston Foundation, CIVA, Erase All Kittens, and Arbourthorne Community Primary School and involves ten primary schools in South Yorkshire on a quest to develop their maker education.
As part of this research project we have been co-running a series of Maker{Home} events with school staff, pupils and their families - introducing the concept of making with cardboard in a fun, creative way. At the end of the session, families take home a Maker{Home} kit encompassing various gadgets to continue their making journey.
Equipping families with ideas and resources maximises the potential for learning at home and can reduce the anxiety of approaching STEAM. We have received some great feedback from parents such as Gayle who said, “It was a fantastic session which allowed the children to explore STEAM through a fun and creative activity. It was great to see so many girls involved as it gives them a chance to see that STEM is not just for boys” .
Our Maker{Home} kit for families
There are many brilliant and unexpected outcomes of the Maker{Home} project. We’ve seen weird and wacky creations such as backpacks, dog kennels, minecraft swords, daleks and dragon suits - all constructed out of cardboard. We’ve glimpsed generations of families tinkering, laughing and problem solving together. I also saw how ‘making’ can break down barriers in language. At one school, Saman delivered our presentation transitioning between both Urdu and English and it was amazing to witness the positive effect this had on our audience. Our message - creativity does not have a language. Making allows families of different speaking languages to come together to engage in STEAM without barriers.
It is such an exciting time for this venture. Maker{Home} is the first of its kind to launch in the UK but there is a buzz in the air as innovative leaders of STEM programmes pursue family based projects. LEGO, for example launched #Let’sBuildTogether in 2020 with daily build challenges and LEGO® lessons for the home. The focus: making as a family.
So, let’s get more families engaged in STEAM! And the benefits will surely follow.
April 2022 - This week we say goodbye to our placement students
Harriet Bines, Maker{Futures} Programme Assistant
Here at Maker{Futures} we’ve been lucky to have two placement students with us from the University of Sheffield. As part of their Education degrees, Lin and Zitong committed 70 hours to volunteering with the Maker{Futures} team and have been involved in every angle of our ever-changing schedule.
On day one they joined us for a Maker{Move} workshop at a school in Wybourn, an eye opening first experience no doubt; they faced working with children for the first time in the loud joyful chaos that you find in a primary school. Being a placement student is physical too. There’s wheeling pods off the Maker{Move} van, setting up the hall with activity stations and then packing it all away at the end of an exhilarating day. As the weeks went by we discovered that Lin was a Stop Motion marvel and Zitong had a flair for wobble bots!
Lin and Zitong helping us to pack Maker{Home} kits for 300 families
Being a volunteer with Maker{Futures} is a great opportunity to gain experience with young people and STEAM in a wide breadth of settings. Our placement students volunteered at thirteen different events including seven primary schools, one secondary school, one nursery, one museum, a community centre, a library, and an adventure playground! Most recently, they worked on a Maker{Home} project; packing up STEM kits for 300 families from 10 local primary schools to engage families with STEM learning through making. I hope Lin and Zitong feel boosted with all the confidence and skills that they will need for the future. We wish them every success.
To volunteer with Maker{Futures} please check out our volunteer information.
March 2022 - Maker{Move} at Get Up To Speed with STEM
Harriet Bines, Maker{Futures} Programme Assistant
On the 23rd March 2022 the MakerFutures team exhibited at Get up to Speed with STEM (GUTS), held at Magna Science Adventure Centre. A whopping 4000 attendees turned up at the 10th showcase of the event, the biggest yet, and didn’t we know it!
GUTS is an annual showcase which sets out to introduce, inform and inspire students, parents and teachers on the world of work - specifically, careers in science, technology, engineering and manufacturing. Companies from cutting edge industries like aerospace engineering and renewable energy were invited to present their best innovations and engage with the future workforce. It was our chance to showcase what Maker{Futures} are doing to address the skills gap in STEM-related industries.
This event was a new experience for the Maker{Futures} team and the first time we had the Maker{Move} van set up as a makerspace. Following a spring clean, a new ramp and some fluorescent chalk, the van was ready to open its doors to the people of South Yorkshire.
The Maker{Move} van set up and ready to go...
A trickle of visitors in the morning soon snowballed into an avalanche of excited teenagers crushing into our stall. Students were invited to create, tinker, test and modify as they engaged in STEM challenges like ‘could you use playdough in a circuit to light up an LED?’ ….’Make a wobblebot using an offset motor and a paper cup!’ (each creation had a personality as distinct as its maker). And, ‘design and make a badge using a machine with levers’. I loved the look of triumph when a student realised that they made something functional.
Anyone can be a maker, and the skills learned from making are integral for the jobs of the future. How will humans solve complex problems related to climate change without creativity, problem solving or critical thinking?
The GUTS event demonstrated that careers in STEM are exciting and dynamic. In a time where the stresses on young people are high it was uplifting to be reminded of all the businesses out there with fantastic employment opportunities. The next Get Up to Speed with STEM will take place on 29th June 2023. MakerFutures will also be exhibiting at Get up to Speed with Culture & Leisure at Magna on 8th June 2022.