Author: gravescolleen

Makerspace Storage

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maker storage colleen gravesLast year during our Invention Literacy Research, I realized that I really did need to hyper-organize my maker supplies–especially when it comes to recyclables for prototyping! I’d begun organizing our electronics and other gadgets, but it was clear that everything needs to be clearly labeled to make materials more accessible for all students.

Enlisting Help

I may be a librarian, but I’m not the best at organizing, so I enlisted help from our Instructional Technology Specialist, Leslie Terronez. (Have you seen how awesomely she organized our Chromebooks?) I asked for her assistance in creating a labeling system and showed her the awesomely hyper-organized makerspace materials at Lighthouse Creativity Lab. We both loved the way they organized materials by type. (i.e. soft stuff, fasteners, etc.)

We began moving and inventorying our maker stuff and decided to sort our materials into these main categories: Electronics/ Crafts/ Supplies/ Prototyping/Tools

Since Leslie is an organizing Jedi Master, she decided to organize our labels by type font.

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Mrs. Smalley and I began the tasking work of sorting our recyclables and other prototyping items into clear plastic storage bins. (This was after extensive time spent measuring the shelves and going to Staples to see what storage box sizes would best maximize our shelf space.)

Maker Materials and Prototyping Tools

I’d say that 1/3 of my Maker supplies are recyclables. Prototyping materials can range from cardboard tubes to weird round wheel like stuff.  Collecting materials like these depend on the types of things your students like to make. Watch their making patterns and gather materials that make sense for their making habits.

You may have a local re-use center where you can find interesting items or just garner ideas for the type of clean upcycling recyclables that work for making. (I just adore shopping at SCRAP Denton. Plus, if my space gets too overrun with reuse materials, I can donate leftovers to this great non-profit!)

Sometimes you won’t know what students need until you start labeling and marking materials. At one point, I was going to recycle some magazines, but decided to bring them up to the library instead. Right after labeling the storage bin, a student had the magazines over at the tinkering tables and was busy utilizing them for a school project.

littleBits

However, organizing electronics is a whole different ballgame.

If you have littleBits and need some ideas, I have a whole Librarian’s Guide to littleBits with tips for organizing, storing, and introducing to new classes. It is available for free download here!

I love these huge cabinets for storing my Pro Library because I can keep Bits organized and locked up if needed.  (And as a bonus, if Bits fall, they are still inside this metal cabinet safely away from feet! Thanks for the tip, #superlibrarianhubs! )

Aaron (the one and only #superlibrarianhubs) also has this great sign inside his cabinet that lets students know that to start inventing they have to pick up a power Bit from the circulation desk.

Sphero

Since Sphero robots need to be charged and ready to go, see my previous posts about organizing, circulation, and using Sphero with classes. (and Sphero Obstacle Course Challenge and Participatory Learning)

In Progress Shelf

While it isn’t storage per se, a makerspace isn’t complete without a “Works in Progress” space.  At Lamar, I had this space designated for works in progress. It really doesn’t take long for this space to get out of control… so you do have to do some regular maintenance if you see “in progress” projects sitting for a long time. I’m still working on this space at Ryan, (kids are already utilizing it, but it isn’t picture ready…) but I will update this post when it’s ready to share!

Sharing Awesome Student Work

It is equally important to have a space dedicated to sharing awesome student work! I’ve spent the last few years showcasing student work digitally, but I’m now in the process of making a permanent maker display to share what students at Ryan are creating. I’m hoping it will inspire even more students to come to the library to be creative and learn through hands- on experiences. If you haven’t seen my Instagram, I post daily things my students create and other library related madness.

How about you?

What are your plans for makerspace storage? What works for your students? How do you share student work? Please share your ideas in the comments below! 🙂

Invention Literacy Research – Part Two

/ gravescolleen / 6 Comments

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This is the second post in a series describing the Invention Literacy Research Project that I worked on collaboratively with one of my English Teachers last school year- April Feranda. About 6 months ago, I watched this video by Jay Silver defining the term. I immediately loved this concept because it perfectly describes what I’ve been attempting to do in my library makerspace since May of 2013.  After writing lessons for Makey Makey last year, I realized I went through the ultimate training on Invention Literacy. I wanted to share that journey with you to help you become invention literate as an educator. April Feranda and I would love for your students to become invention literate. Therefore, we are putting this out there for you to hack and personalize and make your own. Read post one here.

Driving Question

“How does ______  work and can I make my own version of it?”

Before students could create their own invention with recyclables, they had to research how the original invention works and do a little investigating surrounding the invention’s history.

Traditional Research

  • April and I really wanted to cover traditional research by having students search authoritative sources like databases for information. Since students needed to find out the historical context surrounding an invention, we pointed them towards our favorite databases and advised them to take notes either in a Gdoc or in their maker journal. 

Crowdsourcing Research

  • Students search the Internet all the time! So we wanted to take this time to teach evaluating sources and finding credible and reliable sources. Students searched crowd-sourced sites like Instructables and Youtube to look for other versions of the invention they wanted to re-create.
  • As students evaluated these projects on crowd-sourced websites, we worked on teaching students how to decipher projects that they can make with their skillset and resources available versus what projects were not doable for them (because of a skill need or lack of resource. Some students did learn new skills through this project though! But they needed to recognize whether they wanted to learn a new skill or if they needed to find a new way to make something).
  • One of my favorite ways of crowdsourcing research is to contact experts. Midway through our inquiry, we had kids create questions for The Tinkering Studio.  Our students are new to making, so we Skyped these experts to find out how we can develop tinkering mindset, discuss inventing and playing, and much more. (See Youtube below and full set of questions here. )
  • For next year we are adding more aspects to our research:
    • The importance of Reuse/Recycle
    • How to look at the world as your toolkit

Prototyping /Inventions

For the student prototypes and inventions, we focused on these things:

  • Focus on design process. It is pertinent that students draw designs, and reflect on prototyping during their making process… Here are questions to guide your students:
    • What is going right?
    • And what do I need to change?
    • What do I need to research to make this project function better?
  • Have students incorporate this design process into their Maker Journals and make this a part of the final grade (if grading is needed.)
  • Utilize Spin turntable to document student invention iterations (See our Student work here.)
  • Build out of recyclables and everyday stuff
  • Incorporate tech like littleBits and Makey Makey if you have it, but you can still make amazing prototypes out of TRASH! 🙂
  • Students should attempt to make prototypes functional, but it’s okay if they don’t work as long as students are actively trying to create something awesome. Failure is part of the process and if the final invention doesn’t work, it is okay! You never know, you may have kids take inventions home over the summer just to get them working. (We did!)

More Resources

  • Read Jay Silver’s blog post on Medium.
  • Read my article on the Demco blog discussing some quick and easy ways you can facilitate invention literacy at your school.
  • Read post Invention Literacy post one!
  • Read  Invention Literacy post three!