Maker Space: ETEC 568 Class Reflection

It seems I missed the deadline for credit for the end of class reflection.  I thought we were still had until midnight on Sunday.  Oops.  But I'd still like to take the time to look back over the semester.

I took this class to find out more about the makerspace movement and how it could help the charter school high I'm trying to open.  I've always known I wanted the charter school to based on hands-on learning whenever possible.  Even before I learned in the TEA meetings that our campus will be graded on the number of graduates leaving college/ career/ military ready, I wanted to have trades heavily represented with the hope of offering some entry level certifications.  This class helped me focus and refine those initial brainstorming ideas that were all over the map.

I've gotten so much support from the professor and my colleagues, that I created my own Pinterest board to organize all the resources.  Three of the main subsections are:

1) Articles and research on why/ how makerspaces enhance learning for schools
2) Building and equipment ideas
3) Arduino projects

I now have the research to support having a makerspace highlighted on our charter campus.  Our application team has embraced the idea in that we're making our sponsoring nonprofit a makerspace that will also be available to the community during the evenings and weekends for a monthly membership fee.  We've drafted our Articles of Incorporation and are finalizing the Bylaws.  I also have the beginning structure for phase one of the trades building.  I'm sure it will go through a few more revisions before the land has been purchased and the structure built.  But the hard part of getting started is done.At the beginning of the semester, I didn't have the confidence to believe we could do this on our own.  Now we have a clear path to follow.

When I signed up for the graduate class, I was hoping to get the support I did for creating a makerspace.  What I wasn't prepared for was participating in a maker project. First I was intimidated, then excited to order my new Arduino kit and learn more.  Then the projects got under way and I was intimidated again.  I looked at the other students' projects and found inspiration in both their knowledge and their attitude.  I learned a new term: productive struggle.  Working on the Arduino projects allowed me to apply my growth mindset as a student.  I was able to gain perspective from their side of using a makerspace to enhance learning.  I also learned how awesome the Arduino kit is for learning circuits and basic coding.  I'm loving it for my own personal use.

And then word got out to the homeschool kids I
teach that I was working with an Arduino system.  My Tuesday science class has become entranced by it.  They passed up the regular Mel Chemistry kit to play with circuits and code.  I taught them the bare minimum and turned them loose.  Their exploring and trying all sorts of new things with the code and the circuits.  I get goofy proud when I hear things like, "We should start with the power and ground wires.  We will always need those."  "Let's see what happens when we do this."  "Okay, but let's do one thing at a time."  (boy, do I know first hand about that maker rule!)  Watching them take ownership of their learning, being excited to tinker, and proud to accomplish their ideas gives me the energy I need to finalize everything to bring this experience to an entire campus of high school kids.  And, I've already warned the parents about the holiday gift requests to have their own kits.

An added bonus, I can have an informed discussion about coding, Arduino boards, and raspberry pi boards.  I happen to be sitting in front of a couple of students waiting for our homeschool co-op classes' end of semester performances.  The HDMI cable to the projector was damaged, so we had a lull while we waited for its replacement to arrive.  I overheard them comparing Arduino to raspberry pi and was able to join in.  We passed the time sharing about projects the different coding languages.  The knowledge these twelve year olds possessed far surpassed mine, but we enjoyed the discourse none the less.   I now have my own base knowledge of circuits, coding, and how makerspaces work.  It was a fast and challenging semester, but well worth it for the end result.  I want my students to be life-long learners with a growth mindset.  That starts with me modeling that attitude.  This class helped on my journey and opened up new possibilities I didn't know existed.  I am tired, but grateful I took ETEC 568 at Texas A&M Commerce.