Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

What is a Makerspace?

  • By Bryan Shark
  • 11/01/17

Makerspaces are “DIY” social spaces where students meet to create, design, share ideas and learn. They may contain a variety of resources — craft, hardware supplies, 3D printers, electronics, etc.

Why should we start a makerspace?

Makerspaces are popular because they incubate STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills, marketable proficiencies for students in the 21st-century economy. Aside from STEM, makerspaces promote collaboration, critical thinking and creativity — skills students use in college and career.

What does it look like?

A makerspace can be as high-tech or low-tech as desired. The important factor is to provide a safe, collaborative environment.

Furniture and equipment should be flexible and durable, enabling student-teacher movement and task-transitioning. Furnishings should also allow for enhanced organization of various objects (e.g. peg boards for hanging tools). If your makerspace is high-tech, furnishings should provide options to charge tools and devices.

In many schools, media centers facilitate problem-solving and design-thinking projects in varied dynamic makerspaces. Areas of discovery include robotics, iMovie making, gaming, circuitry, music production and construction while utilizing high-tech tools such as 3D printers and graphic design programs.

What are some ideas?

Great makerspace projects are mashups from all disciplines. For example, circuitry combined with paper can provide a new perspective on greeting cards or signs; water could be used to test floatable machines; etc.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Bryan Shark is the vice president of Sales – Furniture and Equipment at School Specialty, Inc., a leading distributor of products, services and solutions to the education marketplace.

Featured

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • AAADM Announces Building Safety Month Initiatives

    The American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM) recently announced its support of Building Safety Month as declared by the International Code Council (ICC), according to a news release.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.