STEAM/Makerspace Plan for HES
The “old computer lab” is being revamped into a STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art, and math) makerspace. This is a work in progress. So, what does this mean? This space can be used by teachers who would like more hands on experience with the materials and would like to offer experiences that are both curriculum related and open-ended for their students.
Materials: We have purchased 10 ipads for use in this space, and students will have use of the acer netbooks/Chromebook carts. We also won a great selection of materials through the Eduporium edu-trivia contest. Some of our materials are on loan to HES to see what works well for our teachers and students.
Currently we are building up a supply of materials for these 6 areas:
Goals: Provide space and materials for students to explore the engineering design cycle with hands-on materials. Teachers will be able to sign their classes up to use the space as well as have materials come to their classroom. The Makerspace will provide a learning environment conducive to exploring and applying design and engineering principles and practices. Most importantly, the space will focus on student-driven, student-designed projects that encourage students to imagine, investigate, take risks, fail, and persevere until they achieve their desired results.
Donations: We would love donations of craft materials- all consumables, including masking tape, colored tape, straws, coffee filters, pipe cleaners, bendables, brass fasteners, play dough, aluminum foil, etc. Storage baskets for all of these would be great. We will also be looking for sources for all the circuitry: batteries- AA, AAA, 9V, all consumables- copper tape, bare-electric paint, leds and more. Donations are always appreciated, especially as this project came together this summer and has no budget for this fiscal year.
Materials: We have purchased 10 ipads for use in this space, and students will have use of the acer netbooks/Chromebook carts. We also won a great selection of materials through the Eduporium edu-trivia contest. Some of our materials are on loan to HES to see what works well for our teachers and students.
Currently we are building up a supply of materials for these 6 areas:
- Video: Green screen, a few stickbots and a small table sized chromakey box
- Making: Cardboard, craft supplies, corrugated plastic
- Robotics: We have class sets (10) of sphero spark+ and ozobots. We also have 3 Finch robots, a Kibo robot (from Helping Hearts), a Cubetto robot, a set of Edison robots and one set of Dash ‘n Dot robots. (I just found out that we have been awarded a $500 grant from the Edcamp Foundation to buy a few more Dash ‘n Dots.)
- Circuits: We have a nice selection of materials to explore circuits including, Snap Circuits, copper tape, LEDS, Squishy Circuits, Makey Makey and a few Little Bits sets.
- Building: We are also collecting building materials and have some KEVA planks and K’nex sets and are working on collecting Legos and base plates for a Lego Wall.
- Coding: We have several coding board games, a large selection of Bitsbox activities, scratch cards and Bloxels to build video games. Many of the robots we have can be coded with ipads or chromebooks using Blockly or Scratch
Goals: Provide space and materials for students to explore the engineering design cycle with hands-on materials. Teachers will be able to sign their classes up to use the space as well as have materials come to their classroom. The Makerspace will provide a learning environment conducive to exploring and applying design and engineering principles and practices. Most importantly, the space will focus on student-driven, student-designed projects that encourage students to imagine, investigate, take risks, fail, and persevere until they achieve their desired results.
Donations: We would love donations of craft materials- all consumables, including masking tape, colored tape, straws, coffee filters, pipe cleaners, bendables, brass fasteners, play dough, aluminum foil, etc. Storage baskets for all of these would be great. We will also be looking for sources for all the circuitry: batteries- AA, AAA, 9V, all consumables- copper tape, bare-electric paint, leds and more. Donations are always appreciated, especially as this project came together this summer and has no budget for this fiscal year.