Be a "Whys" Guy

My presentations to K-12 educators have always been subtitled "Why and How (In that order.)" That's because the most important thing when building a school makerspace is your educational “why.” The second is staff and leadership buy-in. Without both, your makerspace will have no direction and it will morph into shop class or an arts and crafts room. Or it will fail entirely. The two things will differentiate a purposeful, integrated learning environment from a mere room filled with tools and materials. The enthusiastic support of staff will transform the space into a center for learning and creativity.

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While both shop and arts and crafts both have value, they represent different pedagogical approaches. A school makerspace exists to support the broader school philosophy. In the case of my school, that’s STEAM and Project Based Learning. A STEAM-PBL makerspace, is designed to be interdisciplinary, encouraging students to connect across subjects, think critically, and engage in hands-on learning. It's about problem-solving, useful failure, and applying knowledge in dynamic ways – not just completing "recipe" projects or tasks.

Starting a makerspace without a clear understanding of your educational goals is courting failure. The makerspace must serve as a tool to advance the school's broader goals, not as an end in itself. So the most valuable thing that you can do when starting out is to do a lot of organizational self-examination. Know your purpose. Know your community. Only then can you determine if a makerspace is the appropriate tool to advance your school’s interests.

(Portions taken from my comment on a promotional Facebook post by 1st Maker Space for its four-day $1999 makerspace manager program.)