It can be hard to convince teachers (let alone students) to use some of their summer vacation to improve their academic skills. This is, of course, understandable since they spend the rest of the year doing just that. Making summer learning fun, however, is a fairly reasonable compromise so that both educators and their students don’t wind up completely wasting these months. Aside from exploring outside, students could also spend their time away from school in a makerspace. Makerspaces allow for beneficial learning experiences, hands-on play, and require no pressure or grades—just fun opportunities for growth!
Creating Video Games—Rather Than Playing Them
For many parents who have to continue going to work during the summer months, sending their children to a summer camp is the best option. The best part about summer camps these days is that they are completely evolving. A lot of them have been reborn as STEM camps or at least allow students to spend a portion of the day working on something STEM-related. Whether these camps take place in a makerspace or not, students don’t need a formal setting to engage in makerspace activities. And, one of the most popular activities is designing their own video games. Video game design is one of today’s most intriguing careers and actually requires a lot of STEM skills. During the summertime, children can start working on these skills while they have some laid back fun designing with their friends.
Obviously, many kids enjoy playing video games, but few realize the technical aspects that go into creating them. Even fewer kids are aware that they can carve out a successful career simply by learning the skills it takes to create these games. One of the best ways students can learn the basics of game design is with the Bloxels Video Game Builder Kit. Bloxels is a very basic system that allows kids to see some of the steps that go into the game creation process. More importantly, it also gives them an introduction to programming while continuing to keep their time away from the classroom filled with more fun than work. Allowing students to explore a new area like video game design can certainly lead to them wanting to explore it more, major in it, and even make a career out of it and that’s great!
Since Bloxels is actually pretty low-tech (kids just need a Bloxels kit and a smartphone), it’s perfect to place in any makerspace. A state-of-the-art makerspace is great, but Bloxels is usable in a back room or impromptu space as well. Especially as children grow tired of creating the same kinds of projects week after week or summer after summer, this is a great alternative and one that allows them to begin learning a lucrative skill in the process. Most importantly, while learning about video game production, kids are learning about the foundations of programming, which they can apply in tons of different ways—not just game design. Having fun is also something that definitely helps these skills to stick and increases the engagement of these students simultaneously. So, next time you’re struggling for a new summer makerspace idea, don’t forget about giving the Bloxels kits a try!
Using Active Learning to Help Kids Avoid Summer Brain Drain
Summer brain drain is very real. If kids are not engaged in some kind of educational experiences during their time away from school, research has shown that they can lose up to two or three months worth of skills. As we said before, however, their summer activities do not have to consist of solving equations and practicing their spelling. They can be learning experiences of the fun variety, including makerspace learning, community projects, or simple collaboration with other kids. Basically, kids need the opportunity to use the knowledge they’ve built throughout the school year during the summer months or they will risk losing it. Luckily, it’s easy for parents to provide their children with these kinds of opportunities and it’s easy enough plus plenty affordable. Summer vacation shouldn’t be just about summer reading anymore—there are other things kids can do that are more fun and engaging.
While most students are still required to do summer reading, parents can help put a different kind of twist on it. They can ask their children questions about what they’re reading or even create some learning activities of their own for kids to try. The best way to keep their minds sharp is often to keep their bodies active, so supplementing their reading with some hands-on projects can be very useful. And, while helping kids pick out their summer reading books—perhaps at a local library—keep an eye out for any summer activities going on there. There’s always a halfway decent chance that somebody is trying to organize a maker club or a coding club at the library for kids over the summer. Once they need a break from their reading, this is someplace children might really enjoy going!
Even when they’re not reading or doing something intentionally educational, there are still plenty of opportunities for students to learn. Say, they’re on a hike with family or swimming in the ocean. Maybe they come across an animal in the woods or in the water and want to learn more about it later. Kids could simply keep a journal of some of their activities and remind themselves to do some more research on a particular topic later on. Kids could also find other natural “treasures” and bring them home (if it’s safe) and do some research on that. Whatever it is that motivates them to learn, the summer months are a good time to take advantage and allow them to explore some STEM that’s not necessarily academic, but still very helpful to the development of their curiosity and creativity.
Helping to Keep Kids Coding Over the Summer
Many schools have coding classes or clubs during the school year, but almost all of them cease operation during the summer months. Where does this leave students? The summertime is crucial to helping them keep their skills sharp, especially when it comes to coding. Without staying in a routine, they could wind up forgetting much of what they learned during the school year. As we have said, many communities offer camps or other summer programs to help prevent learning loss in kids and these even include opportunities to continue coding, which is great. For schools that can’t keep coding programs active over the summer, there is one way to make sure kids are still getting the experience and it comes in the form of summer learning that’s already widely used.
We are all familiar with summer reading assignments, but not many of us realize that students can also complete summer STEM assignments. If kids are lucky enough to have their own Ozobot or Edison robot, for example, there’s no reason they can’t be coding at home. Of course, we know this isn’t always possible, but, if it is, it would be a very valuable opportunity. Maybe teachers could work out a system that would allow each student to use the class’ coding tools for a few days or a week. With the proper planning, anything is possible. If that would be too complicated, however, there are also online coding opportunities available for students. They can log on to code.org or a number of other sites and try some coding practice that doesn’t necessarily require another tool.
Teachers could also use their classrooms to host one or two coding nights per month during the summer. If held during the week and at night, most students should be able to attend after their parents return home from work. This would also be a chance for kids to collaborate with their parents and show them what they know! Hosting an event like this only a handful of times throughout the summer might not be too stressful and it could certainly give kids the opportunity to develop or, at the very least, maintain their coding skills. Outside of the classroom and in addition to code.org, students could use other online resources, like Scratch, Blender, or Raspberry Fields to try coding in new ways. As long as students are doing something STEM or coding related—anything—during the summer, teachers and parents can count it as a win.
Spending the Summer Building Robots
Spending the summer building robots? Wow, that sounds like some tough and complicated work! Actually, building robots isn’t as daunting as it might seem and, with the availability of today’s educational robotics kits, it’s actually pretty easy to introduce to students. This is also a good way to get more girls into summer STEM projects since robotics is something that everyone can enjoy together. By building their own robots, students not only learn some key engineering skills, they can also learn some very important STEM concepts, like programming, wiring,and troubleshooting just to name a few. Getting the opportunity to participate in something that highlights these innovative concepts usually helps motivate students to explore their creativity through hands-on learning and, especially during the summer, is a great way for them to supplement that knowledge.
Through summer adventures with robotics, students can learn about coding, how robotics systems work, and also how they can use robots to assist with modern tasks. Robots can help STEM professionals solve various problems when it comes to the environment, space, or any other number of areas and even help improve the quality of life for some people. The summer is the perfect time for students to work with robotics and for them to start seeing how robotics can be useful to them in their lives. These kinds of summer projects can also help kids see that their curiosity can lead to a lot of different discoveries and that it can give them a path to pursue in the future. Robotics helps motivate students, engages them early on, and keeps them engaged for longer than usual.
Depending on the resources students have available to them, summer learning with robotics can take them in many different directions. If they’re working with an Arduino-based robot, they can learn how to program in the Arduino IDE and gain some general knowledge about Arduino boards. If they’re using robots that incorporate programming software, they can learn about languages like Blockly, Python, and even Java. Since they’re not in what’s considered a typical classroom environment, robotics challenges in the summertime tend to be more relaxed and free flowing, which is something that students really enjoy. Plus, they feel rewarded when they use what they’ve learned to put something together and make it work! To explore some of the best robotics tools for informal summer learning, visit the Eduporium store!
Designing a Makerspace Starts in the Summer Months
Although there’s not a ton more of it available, educators generally have at least a little bit more free time during the summer months. They already spend a good chunk of that time, however, conjuring up ways to improve their teaching for the next year, researching supplies and EdTech, and putting their classrooms together—among plenty of other things. The summer can be a very beneficial time for teachers and school leaders since it allows for them to brainstorm some ideas for implementation during the following summer or school year. During the summer, it’s an ideal time for school leaders to start planning some of their larger scale projects and that includes designing makerspaces. Plus, with clearer minds and (hopefully) fresher bodies, educators can get some serious brainstorming done when they collaborate with each other during the summer months.
After a summer full of strategic planning, the results can be very beneficial and uplifting for students. School or library makerspaces help kids develop a maker mindset more freely and have continuously been shown to boost academic achievement. Although it seems like there is sometimes more play than learning going on in school makerspaces, something deep tends to emerge from this play. Students start seeing themselves as inventors, innovators, problem solvers, and makers—all of which are very important to their futures. In makerspaces, students learn to think creatively, independently, and collaboratively—whatever the situation calls for (just as in the real world). Plus, in a makerspace, students aren’t just limited to learning about one subject; they can take part in challenges that are completely interdisciplinary. It’s incredibly easy—with the proper planning—to integrate circuitry, coding, and engineering into makerspace learning all while promoting equity.
So, with all the possibilities that makerspaces provide for students, it would seem that somebody has to help make this happen. That brings us back to our first suggestion that the summer is the best time to start developing ideas. If educators try to squeeze it in during the school year, for example, some things might be overlooked if they’re rushing to get things finalized. With the proper planning, teachers can create a space where their students can develop a growth mindset and really take control of their learning while building a true sense of agency. After deciding on design ideas, layout, and maybe even some of the technologies to put in the makerspace, then comes the really fun part of actually purchasing them and testing them out. Before you know it, it’s time to open the doors and open up some truly innovative learning experiences for students!
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