Integrating your makerspace with your curriculum can help bring hands-on, experiential learning into your classroom. Here are some steps you can take to sync your makerspace with your curriculum.
Identify Learning Objectives and Choose Makerspace Activities That Align
Review your curriculum and identify the learning objectives that can be enhanced or reinforced through makerspace activities. For example, if you’re teaching a unit on geometry, you might want to incorporate a 3D printing project that requires students to design and print a geometric shape.
Ideally you want to select makerspace activities that align with your learning objectives. Be sure to choose activities that are appropriate for your students’ grade level and skill level. You can find a variety of makerspace activities online or create your own.
For example, if you want to learn how to create lesson plans with 3D printing and 3D design, take a look at this video from MakerBot that offers tips on how to print more than 20 student projects at a time. Or you can download their free 3D Printing Curriculum Planning Guide here.
Makerspaces.com offers a solid list of makerspace activities that cover more than just 3D printing.
Plan Makerspace Projects
Create a plan for each makerspace project that includes the learning objectives, materials needed, instructions, and assessment criteria. Make sure your students understand the project expectations and how it relates to the curriculum.
The Ultimaker Thingiverse Education community gives you access to over 100 free 3D printing lesson plans. It’s easy to search and browse projects by grade level (K-6, 7-12 or University) and by subject like Art, Engineering, Geography, History, Languages, Math, Science, Special Ed, and Technology.
We’re pretty big fans of projects that incorporate multiple technologies, like 3D printing, laser cutting, robotics, coding, CNC machining, and more. For example, we created a project that combined SolidWorks CAD design software, Stratasys and MakerBot 3D printing, Denford CNC machining, and Universal Laser Systems laser cutting — all in one lesson plan for designing, building and testing trebuchets. We have also led a 3D printing post-processing project focused on creating silicone molds around 3D printed parts using SolidWorks.
Schedule Makerspace Time
Incorporate makerspace time into your classroom schedule. You can designate a specific time each week or integrate makerspace activities into your lesson plans.
Feel free to display a timer on the board so students can see how long their working period is. We’ve found that using a timer helps students stay on task and attend to their projects. This is a key tenant of managing your makerspace.
Provide Guidance and Support
Are your users beginners, intermediate, advanced, or a combination? This will be important to consider as you provide guidance and support to your students during makerspace projects. Encourage them to experiment and explore, but also provide them with guidance and feedback as needed.
Assess Student Learning
Assessment is key to keeping administration on board with your makerspace. You can use a variety of assessment methods, such as rubrics, portfolios, or presentations.
It is important to remember that assessment at its core is simply providing feedback on where students are doing well and where they need to improve. This should not discourage the risk-taking and failure that often goes hand-in-hand with makerspace projects. You’ll want to ensure that that your feedback is appropriately assessing students’ knowledge of learning concepts as well as how to use your makerspace equipment and technologies.
Researchers are finding that by implementing makerspace in STEM education, students can be more confident and prepared for their future education and professional pursuits in STEM. By syncing your makerspace with your curriculum, you can create a more engaging and meaningful learning experience for your students. This is key in making those connections for students as they embark on STEM career pathways.
