When it comes to utilizing makerspaces in education, there’s little reason to avoid starting one. They’re largely affordable, they help students maximize their creativity, and they can be set up in so many different places. One of those places—perhaps the most popular—is the school library. School libraries are evolving and, in many K-12 schools, are now hubs for innovation with many innovative learning tools replacing some of the ones that have historically been found there. It’s not that uncommon to now see 3D printers or CNC machines taking up space in school libraries rather than magazines, video tapes, and even books. Times are changing and maker education has made its way into many school libraries, so are you ready to embrace this exciting change?
Adding a Makerspace to your School Library
While library makerspaces are a great way to advance and promote 21st century learning, we’re not exactly advocating for overthrowing the library in your school completely. Just want to make that perfectly clear. In fact, school libraries and library makerspaces have been known to complement each other, making for one of the reasons why they’re such an effective pairing. Libraries are versatile in this day and age, which is why so many educators have found success when giving these areas a makerspace makeover. In reality, though, makerspaces can be created just about anywhere as long as educators have the right mindset and motivation. Libraries just happen to provide a good amount of space and connectivity for the kinds of projects students want to do. Here are some of the best strategies to employ when looking to add a makerspace to your school’s library.
The first thing educators can do is create a unique philosophy for what learning in their makerspace means to them and their students. Focusing on determining what making means to you rather than spending too much time purchasing supplies or decorating is something that should not be taken lightly. Next, teachers should design their space and employ instructional tactics in ways that reflect what research has proven about makerspace learning. There is more and more research about makerspace learning being done to determine the impact that making has on learning. Do not ignore this evidence and, when possible, use it as a foundation to support your students as they grow. It’s also important to provide both physical and digital learning opportunities for students. Makerspaces are great for this, allowing students to use a bevy of materials for the kind of hands-on learning that activates their brains and incorporate digital tools as well to help get them more comfortable with various forms of technology.
In makerspaces, teachers still need to be sure students are learning key concepts, but assessment can be done in a variety of ways. The unique environments of makerspaces can be great for measuring the academic progress of students but also their soft skill development, which is important to monitor. Also, teachers should feel empowered to inspire their students to want to make and create. Helping them find ways to connect creativity to their learning will usually result in some amazing inspiration. Finally, there is no one method that works best for maximizing learning in a makerspace. Educators should be willing to explore all kinds of teaching and making styles before settling on anything specific. The best advice we can give is to just let kids do what they think is best and, chances are, it will be a pretty effective way of unleashing their creativity while exploring many beneficial projects!
Questions to Ask Before Creating a Makerspace
The best way to go about creating a makerspace—whether in a library or another room of the school— is to come up with a plan. Seriously, the first thing anybody says when you ask them is to develop a thorough plan and then be sure you stick to it! Some of these things you’ve likely heard before (and will likely hear again), but they bear repeating for those educators who strive to create a top-notch makerspace learning experience for their students. Just like it’s important to not just randomly choose a MakerEd tool to stick in your makerspace, it’s important to stick to your plan. It can be tempting to fill your makerspace with the latest devices or gimmicky tools, but is that really the best approach? The first question educators should ask themselves is ‘what experience are we trying to create?’ It’s key to determine what the intended purpose of the makerspace should be and what you want students to be able to accomplish within it. Making sure they’re able to be creative and take risks is also important and the experiences they participate in should be conducive to each of those.
Next, educators should ask themselves what their learning goals are and figure out the outcomes they hope to achieve within the space. The learning goals should ideally be tied to the experiences students have in the makerspace and allow them to apply knowledge and still be able to demonstrate that they understand all necessary concepts. The beauty of makerspace learning is that it can allow students to master concepts in all different academic subjects, including science, literature, and even history. As they partake in these unique learning experiences, students may start to take control of their learning and that’s very much okay—in fact, it should be encouraged! And, that brings us to another thing educators should consider and that’s how to get students comfortable with leading their own learning. Options include simple challenges that force someone to step up or simply assigning a leadership role.
There are a million things educators will think about for how to make their makerspace better and many of those considerations will start forming after the space is opened up. Ideally, however, teachers should determine if they would prefer to provide their students with a set curriculum to adhere to or if they’d rather focus on unleashing their creativity through open-ended learning. It’s also important to consider what grade levels the students using the space are in and to make sure the projects, tools, and equipment align with their ages and abilities. It’s even helpful to consider when students will be using the makerspace—whether they’re in there mostly during the school day as opposed to after school or during recess could factor into the tools and projects as well. If they have more time to spend in there after school, for example, maybe that would mean teachers could invest in some more advanced and expensive equipment. It all depends on your unique situation.
High- and Low-Tech Library Makerspaces
Typically, makerspaces fall somewhere between very high-tech and very low-tech. That’s the beauty of them—it doesn’t matter how much technology is present; it just matters that students are using the supplies they have creatively to chase more fulfilling learning opportunities. When makerspaces are launched in school libraries, space could sometimes be an issue that prevents librarians from bringing in some high-tech equipment, like 3D printers. If this is the case, low-tech options are just as capable at bringing out student creativity. Even without high-tech tools, students can still focus on building, producing, or constructing something meaningful. Even if it’s simply working with something that’s already been built to find a more creative use for solving an existing issue, that’s the kind of problem solving that’s perfect for makerspace learning.
In reality, library makerspaces are just as likely to be low-tech as they are to be high-tech. In low-tech library makerspaces, educators are able to use tools like LEGOs, clay, paint, Play-Doh, scissors, glue, cardboard, glitter, and many others to create opportunities for hands-on student making. For those who are more interested in the high-tech side of things, there are an assortment of technologies that could be deployed as well, including Arduino’s, 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, and plenty of other STEM kits. Like we outlined in the previous section, the route library makerspace leaders take when determining if they want to go more high-tech or low-tech depends on their vision and the learning outcomes they want to achieve as well as their budget. Also, the age of the students in the space could have an effect on the scope of the materials being used. Younger students might remain engaged for longer periods of time using simple, low-tech tools, for example, whereas older students might not be as interested if they didn’t have the chance to use some powerful technology. This is why it’s also important to get to know the students who will be using the makerspace in the library regularly.
Whether your library makerspace has more high-tech or low-tech items, a lot of the same things can be accomplished. Using both types of tools, students can still work to develop a maker mindset, meaning that each type of tool has the potential to unlock creative, processed-based solutions. In either case, library makerspace leaders can also host special events or competitions, for example, that challenge students to design and/or build the most innovative project. And, library makerspaces can serve as a home for finished projects crafted by students no matter how large, small, techy, or simple they are. Just knowing they are displayed for the whole school to see is the main reason for starting a makerspace whether it’s more high-tech or more low-tech.
The Role of School Libraries in Advancing the Maker Movement
Over the last handful of years, it hasn’t necessarily been teachers who are responsible for bringing the Maker Movement into schools. A lot of the time, the credit for this has gone to librarians. Out of the tens of thousands of school librarians in the United States, many of them are the only ones responsible for their school’s MakerEd activities. This makes them the primary party for unlocking makerspace experiences for students. With the emergence of the Maker Movement in education, school libraries have undergone an exciting shift from quiet and sometimes boring places to the central innovation hubs for a lot of schools. That’s not to say that librarians don’t face any challenges when designing and opening their makerspaces, but, over time, they have learned from each other and some best practices have been established to help ensure that libraries are always engaging places for students.
This means that, in order to provide students with cutting-edge STEAM experiences, school librarians need to be enabled to create them. Empowering librarians to facilitate makerspace learning can be achieved in a number of ways, but, according to research, there are a few that could offer the greatest benefits. First is providing librarians with professional development resources so that they can learn all they can about becoming the innovation leader in the school, including brushing up on the latest trends and, of course, how to implement STEAM tools. Next, increased time for librarians to interact with teachers and learn how they can align their maker activities with what’s being taught in the classroom is a key element as well. And, then, librarians might want to rethink the design of their library to make it more conducive to integrating STEAM and maker tools, allowing for greater collaboration among students, and chances to share knowledge throughout the school community.
Statistics say that library makerspaces are actually becoming very prevalent in today’s schools and MakerEd experiences are becoming a regular part of student learning. In fact, about 55 percent of school libraries currently offer maker learning initiatives to students in one form or another. The number of students participating in makerspace programs at their school is also rising thanks to the interest that school librarians spread when it comes to maker activities and the fact that makerspaces are located right in school libraries a lot of the time makes them so much more accessible. And, it’s not just students who are interested in doing more making in the library. Often, it’s the librarians themselves who take the first step and pull students in by creating a new reason for them to come into the library. Without librarians recognizing the need for hands-on learning and libraries providing the space to make it happen, there probably would not be as much maker education going on at the moment, but we’re sure glad there is!
Getting Started with Mobile Makerspaces
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but makerspaces can be pretty much anything you want them to be and that includes mobile. A lot of teachers and librarians use rolling carts to transport their makerspace materials from one location to another and that includes the school library. Even though this often means that the tools that educators use in mobile makerspaces are on the smaller side, that doesn’t mean that the learning opportunities need to be. Students can still enjoy challenges that get their brains and their creativity working hard at constructing innovative solutions. It’s just that those solutions can be wheeled around more easily from place to place. And, most importantly, teachers should see the same levels of engagement and excitement from students no matter where their making is taking place.
The good news for librarians who want to try the mobile makerspace route is that a lot of STEM tools are now small enough that they could fit on a mobile cart for easy transportation and storage. Even 3D printers, for example, are becoming smaller and easier to move around throughout the school. Of course, if you are able to use any type of technology that requires power, you will have to first make sure you will have access to outlets. Some STEM tools do require power supplied to them (like 3D printers) while others, like some robotics and engineering sets, don’t necessarily need power to provide students with innovative learning opportunities. Despite the fact that mobile makerspace learning can take place anywhere, students are still able to learn all of the same STEM skills that they would learn in a more traditional makerspace and, when you think about it, that’s really the most important thing.
Mobile makerspaces may often be used in the school’s library, but the beauty of them is that they can be used anywhere. Among the benefits of making STEAM learning mobile are that this can potentially help more students experience MakerEd if they’re unable to get into the library, for example. Projects can still be tailored to individual students and librarians or teachers can still draw on their interests to inspire their creativity. Like with all makerspaces, the mission of a mobile makerspace should be—at least in part—about creating a strong sense of community and inclusivity, which is another one of the main benefits of mobile making. Whether in a classroom, library, or maybe even outside, the mobile makerspace phenomenon has its share of benefits when rolled out in the right way—just like all other MakerEd initiatives. Good luck with any and all of your library, school, or mobile makerspace endeavors and remember that you can reach out to our experts for guidance from start to finish!
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