A Game From "Trash"

An unused pizza box, some bottle caps some scraps of wood and some imagination. (I also asked the student to create the rules for the game.)

Students Supplying Their Own Pressure

Supplying the answers accomplishes little. When students are motivated to make something work, they will actually learn. They love making things fly.

"How can we make it launch,?" they said. "Somehow, you have to get pressure into the bottle," I said.

Hacking At A Funnel

3-D printed funnel for the rice bottle to replace the old paper cone that kept falling off. Something missing? Oops. #learniningexperience #nothingissomething

Cubbies Part 1: You Can't Be Too Rich, Too Thin or Have Enough Storage

Every makerspace manager I've ever spoken to says that storage is one of their major challenges. This is a plan for twin cubbyhole units to be built by the students.

Original whiteboard sketch.

Google Drawings version.

Higher-res file.

Students Bring Their Own Skills To Making

Showing a friend how it's done.

Students don't just learn, they also bring their own skills to teach their peers – skills like macramé.

The work in-progress.

We Still Haven't Identified a Lower Age Limit

Even the youngest students can use saws. The key is a comprehensive safety briefing for all new students, a refresher each year, specific safety rules for each tool and age-appropriate supervision. An example of age appropriate supervision for a kindergartener using a power saw would be with an adult's hands guiding the student's hands during use of the tool.

CREATE Safety poster.

Elegant Engineering Solution

I loved this instinctive engineering solution to a cardboard box hinge, using thread and hot glue. Great use of composite materials!

Our First 3-D Object

This was the first student-made object printed from our 3-D printer. She used Tinkercad to design it.

Yes, Girls Can Saw, Too...

One of the most gratifying things is that the gender gap is minimal in CREATE. I've seen girls show boys how to properly clamp wood and use the saws.

A 10-Minute Pinball Machine

A third grader came up to me during tinker time and told me he wanted to build a pinball machine. I privately doubted that he could do it in the short time he had. 10 minutes later, he amazed me with this working result. It used a straw to launch a golfball and plastic egg halves as obstacles, all mounted in a shoebox. Awesome!