Designing MakerSpaces and Starting a STEAM Approach
Egmond Boon
Innovation in the 20th century relied largely on genius in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). In the 21st century, Art and Design are already playing a huge role in the next wave of economic and global transformation, and Entrepreneurial skills are proving to be vital in expanding STEM to STEAM. A Makerspace is our garage or laboratory and provides access to tools not found in the regular classroom. Here, students use the elements of the Design Cycle(Inquiry/Developing/Creating/Evaluating) for hands-on projects, and “the art of making something” is refined through practice and by doing. This session will focus on the process of designing MakerSpaces employing the STEAM approach to promote design thinking, learning by doing, a culture of teamwork and collaboration and project-based learning experiences. |
Discovery Session
I will present the big picture of how we set up our STEAM spaces at the Canadian International School. We will look briefly at the research, STEAM Vision development, ordering process and putting it all in place.
I will present the big picture of how we set up our STEAM spaces at the Canadian International School. We will look briefly at the research, STEAM Vision development, ordering process and putting it all in place.
DEEP Dive
Delving deeper in this session, we will consider and learn more about:
* The resources we use, and creating a collaborative STEAM resources document.
* Look at the tools we chose at our school and the reasoning behind our choices.
* The implementation and integration of STEAM spaces.
* Coding with Code Avengers.
* Tinkering with a selection of tools such as MakeBlock, Snap Circuit, Makey Makey, and LittleBits.
Delving deeper in this session, we will consider and learn more about:
* The resources we use, and creating a collaborative STEAM resources document.
* Look at the tools we chose at our school and the reasoning behind our choices.
* The implementation and integration of STEAM spaces.
* Coding with Code Avengers.
* Tinkering with a selection of tools such as MakeBlock, Snap Circuit, Makey Makey, and LittleBits.