I serve two schools, an elementary (K-4) and middle school (5-8). We are an inner city school district that is almost 80% free or reduced lunch with a 55% minority population. The kids we work with are smart, caring, compassionate, imaginative, respectful, tenacious, and full of potential.
Due to some of the limitations of being a charter school, we lack the funds to provide the tools that can truly inspire our students to use what they know and proved experiences they cannot get anywhere else (Charter Schools only receive 2/3's the funding of comparable public schools).
We recently began a 1-to-1 laptop program for grades 2-8.
My Project
A makerspace can be anything from a repurposed bookcart filled with arts and crafts supplies to a table in a corner set out with LEGOs to a full blown fab lab with 3D printers, laser cutters, and handtools.
We want to expand our materials this year and reach out to more innovators at our school.
Our students really want to learn to code with the LEGO laser peg products, and the Makey Makey. We have tons of students who just want to build with the LEGOs and students who want to expand their artistic view with a drone to build more authentic videos, and give them that creative of an edge to bring a bird's eye view of life!
We have seen with those students who participate in our space attendance issue disappear, grades go up, and behavior incidences go down.
“Makerspaces provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering, and tinkering.” Jennifer Cooper, Designing a School Makerspace (Edutopia)
With your help & these new items, plus our 3D printer we obtained last year, our students will really see how to blend Science Technology Engineering Art and Math (STEAM) together! Now that is something that they would never get otherwise!
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