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A young girl concentrates as she uses a cutting mat and a rotary tool to shape a piece of cardboard in a classroom makerspace. The room features wooden tables, tools, and storage shelves in the background, with other children also engaged in projects. The atmosphere reflects focus and creativity.

 Makerspace

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A young girl wearing a leopard-print dress and a pink bead necklace works intently on a LEGO project. She is seated at a table with a plastic organizer tray filled with various LEGO pieces in front of her. The background shows a classroom setting with blurred furniture and posters.

Makerspace

All students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5 attend makerspace, which is a collaborative learning space where kids and adults can explore, ideate, engineer, invent and create. By creating, students connect the different pieces of knowledge they already have and apply their learning in an interdisciplinary way. Kids looooove makerspace because they have creative freedom and they get to practice problem solving, often with immediate tangible results, in a relaxed atmosphere.  

 

Makerspace fosters an open-ended approach to learning. Instead of “We are going to make fidget spinners today,” in makerspace, students may be given the question, “What can you create to help children focus?” Students then have the opportunity to design, create, and test their own solutions. Deeper learning occurs because the students are personally invested and are completely absorbed in their work. Cheers can often be heard emanating from makerspace. 

 

Makerspace alternates between free makerspace and challenges. During challenge weeks, students are given a STEM challenge or a problem to solve. They are given specific materials and must work through the engineering process to solve the challenge. They plan, design, test, make adjustments/modifications, and test again. They work collaboratively to solve problems and present their designs. Makerspace provides kids with a safe space to experiment and fail. This mindset helps build resilience and teaches the students that failure is often part of the learning process. 

Two children excitedly react to a spaghetti and marshmallow structure on a table. One child has wide eyes and raised hands, while the other gestures animatedly. The background features shelves with books and supplies, as well as colorful musical notes on the wall.
A flowchart titled "Makerspace Engineering Design Process" with six interconnected colorful circles arranged in a loop around a central blue circle. The six steps are: 1. Define/Ask (light blue), 2. Ideate/Draw (yellow), 3. Build/Create (red), 4. Test (dark blue), 5. Improve (pink), and 6. Present (green). Dotted arrows connect the steps, indicating a cyclical process. The background has a faint grid pattern.
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