We define a general Makerspace as "an environment that is conducive to engage and enable makers to design and create their maker projects". At MakerClubQUT, we take an interest in an Educational Makerspace, which we define as "a learning environment where learners (makers) are engaged and empowered to problem-solve during their design, creation, and sharing of their personally meaningful artefacts (maker projects with products/solutions)". We often use the term Makerspace Learning Environment (MLE) in education, and we think that an MLE has huge implications for STEM education and competencies of future generations.
The room KG-B428B was refurbished in late 2020 and started as a teaching and learning space in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education, and Social Justice in 2021. You can find B Block on this map, and the room is on level 4 (level 3 is in fact the ground floor when coming in from Victoria Park Road). Below are some photos of B428B taken in November 2021.
Because this Makerspace is setup in a standard / general purpose classroom, we select technologies and design facilities that could model and be replicated in school classrooms, and meet the safety and security requirements.
Our Makerspace has the following key components.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Electronic bench top
Hand / Power tools cart and pegboard
Project shelves
Software
Other resources
3D Pens are not digital fabrication tools. They took 3D printing filament and with hand skills to extrude and draw creative 3D objects/artefacts. At KG-B428B, we have complete sets of equipment for 3D Pen creative activities. These include the 3D pen, silicon drawing mats, silicon finger cap, filament boxes, power banks etc.
1. Creality Print (Main slicer for K1 Max in KG-B428B)
2. Ultimaker Cura (Used for Ender series printers in Tinkerspace at KG-R224)
3. Repetier Host (Used for TEVO Little Monster Delta Printer)
TinkerCad (Online)
FreeCAD (Offline)
Sketch-Up (Online)
Onshape (Online)
Vectary (Online)
SelfCAD (Online)
Madeup.xyz (Online)
MeshLab (Off-line)
Blender (Off-line)
VRMath2 Editor (Online)
Arduino UNO / Nano / Pro mini / Mega 2560
Micro:bit V1.5 & V2
ESP32 (S, C and H series) / ESP8266
Raspberry Pi / Pi Pico / Pi Pico W
Arduino IDE (For Arduino boards, Pi Pico/W)
Micro:bit Makecode (For Micro:bit). Apps available for mobile devices (iOS and Android).
Mixly v2 (For MixGo, Arduino, ESP32/MicroPython, ESP8266, STM32, Micro:bit etc.)
OLD: Mixly v1 (For MixGo, Arduino, ESP32/MicroPython, ESP8266 etc.)
Webduino
a. bit.webduino.io -> only for Web:Bit
b. blocklypro.webduino.io -> supports Mark1, Fly, Smart
c. webbit.webduino.io only for Web:Bit, designed for K-12 students
Kitsi Creator (For Kitsi)
Scratch - Support Micro:bit, LEGO EV3, WeDO
PictoBlox - Scratch 3 block programming, support Arduino UNO, Nano, Mega, ESP32 (By STEMPedia), for WIndows, macOS, Linux
mBlock - Scratch 3 block programming, support Arduino.
Piper Make (Block coding for Pi Pico)
BPIES (Online Block coding for a range of popular microcontrollers: arduino, ESP8266/32, Pi Pico etc.)
MindPlus.cc (Online block coding environment, Scratch clone, supports some hardware from China)
Thonny IDE (Python coding for Raspberry Pi, MicroPython for Pi Pico)
CircuitPython (Interpreter for Pi Pico) with MU Editor
1. Dabble - Support BLE 2/4, HC-05, HC-06, HM-10 (By STEMPedia), for both IOS and Android.
2. ArduinoBlue - Support HM-10 BLE 4, for both IOS and Android.