Ms Cantrell's Learning Garden: Makerspace

For my last reflection post, I am going to talk about Makerspaces. Makerspaces are used for exploring, creating, and building as well as discovering new ideas, and places to find solutions. Makerspaces promote problem solving and critical thinking while allowing students to have autonomy and choice when setting goals and persevering through them. They allow students to express their ideas! They are primarily rooted in STEM. Students work creatively and collaboratively and explore curiosity and inquiry. Participating in Makerspaces teach technological fluency and digital literacy, and explores meaningful learning for students. Makerspaces are theory based, rooted in the ideas of theorist Papert, who was the founder of Constructivism. Makerspaces are a positive technological development framework that help students grow in social skills, and gross/fine motor skills. They are used for all ages as a project based learning program. The teacher's role in Makerspaces is to be a facilitator and leader in exploration and discovery. Teachers are to set challenges and expectations, but let students ultimately take the lead. Teachers need to support not control! The student's role is to gain content knowledge, and to be immersed in collaborative and meaningful learning.
What have I learned? How will this benefit me as a teacher?
Makerspaces prove that learning can happen outside of the traditional classroom. Students are given responsible roles as learners and given the opportunity to show their creativeness. Using Makerspaces will benefit me as a teacher because I am providing my students with an opportunity to learn and experiment that will help them grow as lifelong learners.

The following pictures show students participating in Makerspaces.

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