Makerspaces

Makerspaces, according to “Problem Scoping: Design Thinking & Close Reading Makerspaces in the School”, are “collaborative workspaces stocked with materials and tools for creating, building, designing, and learning”. They are becoming pretty popular in schools, because they incorporate both creating and literacy. It’s no surprise that libraries are utilizing these makerspaces in order to educate and make it fun!

It pretty much follows the same steps as a school science project. It starts with problem scoping, then moves on to brainstorming, designing, creation, and it ends with showing off the final project. This is a great way for students to learn about problem solving, critical thinking,  and subjects like science and engineering, but it really isn’t limited to these topics at all. These makerspaces really make anything possible. (Blakemore 1)

These makerspaces are creative environments for students to explore. There are arguments that these spaces aren’t really necessary, and some repurposing of pre-existing spaces can create the same sort of environments that students can create in, but I feel like makerspaces are kind of like the Scholastic Book Fairs that all 90’s and 00’s kids remember with fondness. It's an exciting space to explore, and it promotes learning! It's also important to mention that a lot of libraries are too small to house the spaces that they would need to create some of these spaces. With makerspaces, every possible learning environment is at the students fingertips, ready for them to use.

To learn more about makerspaces, watch this video from Edutopia!