Making Spaces Partnerships

As part of Making Spaces: Expanding Maker Education Across the Nation, a nationwide program supported by Google, the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) is partnering with the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh (CMP) to provide local schools with guidance, professional development and support to jumpstart and sustain maker education in classrooms.

These maker spaces will give students exposure and access to the topics ranging from making and design to coding and robotics, among others. By providing an environment more flexible than that of a traditional classroom, students are better able to direct their own learning, solve problems that matter to them and develop the creative confidence they need to succeed beyond school.

To be selected for the cohort, SMCOE asked schools to commit to a number of actions, including participating in ongoing professional development with SMCOE, designing and implementing a maker-related education opportunity or space and contributing to research and evaluation efforts for maker education.

After a competitive application process, SMCOE selected 11 schools to participate in this exciting partnership:

"We believe that all children are natural makers and that making has a place in every school, for every child, as a powerful way to stimulate and organize real-world, student-driven learning," said Rebecca Vyduna, the director of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Center at SMCOE, when asked about the cohort. "We are thrilled to work with these 11 fabulous schools on supporting the development of making in San Mateo County.”

We look forward to the additional opportunities that will be made possible for these students through increased community support and engagement.