Maker Party

• New York City Hall of Science

• Bronx Museum

• World Up

• Rubin Museum

• Exposure Camp

• Center for Urban Pedagogy

• Museum of Moving Image

• Coder Dojo

• WNYC/Radio Rookies

• Mozilla Webmaker + Maker Corps 

The set up for this event was simple.  The day was split up into three sessions.  Middle School students from Oasis, BELL, LeAp and the Children's Aid Society would rotate into the event during assigned time slots each lasting about an hour and a half.  As students reached the bottom of the staircase leading into the library's lower level atrium they were greeted by Hive's Senior Director, Chris Lawrence.  He welcomed students and compared the experience students would have today to that of a visit to a food court (of sorts). He encouraged students to pretend they were visiting a "learning food court" where they could stop into different stations and learn something new at each one. Each organization had their station or table set up to form a circle around the atrium.  After a brief introduction to each station, students moved freely from station to station.  Some students tried many different activities while others remained at one or two stations of interest for most of their time.  

A large conference room at the back of the atrium was run by my team and students who stopped in were encouraged to build 3D structures using templates and construct bridges using popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. Students were also invited to hack and remix websites and videos using Mozilla Webmaker tools.  Most students decided to do one or the other depending on their interests or preference.  A few students tried all the activities.  

Students were actively engaged in the making process from the moment they walked into our room.  Some needed adult guidance to get started while others immediately took ownership of their project and worked independently or in small partnerships. As students began building their creativity began to emerge.  (See photos below)

I worked with one particular student who challenged herself to create a structure that would surpass the Empire State Building-like structure that was already part of our map.  This student cut out several templates to make a variety of 3D shapes.  She decorated each shape differently and stacked them all together to create one final structure.  You can't see it from the pictures below, but she even drew staircases and elevators in the interior part of her structure.  She was so engaged that she remained at our station during most of her visit. Below are pictures that show what she made.  

After building their structures, students were instructed on how to add an LED to their structure so that it would light up once placed on the map.  Once completed they were instructed on how to add their creation to our battery powered map of the Bronx.  Students building bridges added their completed bridge to a rectangular foam board that would then be placed over the circuits on the map in order to light them up. 

When visiting us, students also had the option to reflect on their experience building structures and/or bridges by hacking or remixing a Thimble reflection template.  Students also had the option to create a Thimble website or Popcorn video based on their interests.  Here are some examples of websites remixed by students.

                                            click the image above                                         click the image above

I worked with one particular pair of students who worked really well as a team. They knew exactly what they wanted their finished product to be and really worked collaboratively to produce a website that incorporated their favorite basketball players.  They chose to use a comic strip Thimble template and added Google images of their favorite basketball players. They agreed on titles and speech bubbles to add in and really worked together to get the job done. I was impressed by how well they worked together.  See what they made below.  Click here to see the finished product.

The Summer Quest Maker Party was a huge success for all involved.  It was a day filled with fun and engaging hands-on learning for all!  The kids were really excited and enjoyed making new things and exploring a wide range of activities.  The adults enjoyed it too and many of us got involved in trying out a variety of activities ourselves.  I myself tinkered with some cool apps and even got myself a henna tattoo :)