Author: Laura Fleming
Length: 80 pages
Intent/Focus: A must-have guide to painlessly building a robust, unique environment that puts learning back in the hands of your students
What You Will Learn: The nuts and bolts of imagining, planning, creating and managing a cutting-edge Makerspace for your educational community
Why We Recommend It: We aim to keep educators informed on major transformative trends in education – specifically, in this case, the makers movement. We like this book because it’s a very practical guide to establishing a makerspace at your school.
Summary:
Laura Fleming’s book, Worlds of Making: Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School provides a great guide for educators, enabling you to make your school’s own makerspace, on any budget, from inception through implementation. The practical strategies and anecdotal examples in the book will help you:
- Create an action plan for your own personalized makerspace
- Create a maker culture
- Align maker activities to standards
- Enhance student learning through hands-on, constructive experiences
- Showcase student creations
- Act as a catalyst for future change
What is a Makerspace?
A website called spaces.makerspace.com defines a makerspace as “a community center with tools… for the purpose of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone.” The Journal for School Librarian Professionals goes a step further, applying makerspaces to education: “Educational makerspaces (EM) and maker education (ME) have the potential to revolutionize the way we approach teaching and learning. The maker movement in education is built upon the foundation of constructionism, which is the philosophy of hands-on learning through building things.”
The We Are Teachers website shows us how the maker movement is transforming education: “New tools and technology, such as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, wearable computing, e-textiles, “smart” materials, and programming languages are being invented at an unprecedented pace. The Maker Movement creates affordable or even free versions of these inventions, while sharing tools and ideas online to create a vibrant, collaborative community of global problem-solvers.”
The Reviews
Editorial Reviews provide additional insight on the value of the book, with comments such as this quote from education reporter, Eric Sheninger: "Laura Fleming does an exquisite job of creating a guide for all schools to tap into students' innate desire to create, tinker, invent and make to learn."
In the many 5-star reviews from readers, we see quotes such as:
“It takes a really fresh idea to make a book stand out from the others… [this] is EXACTLY the kind of book that creates a lot of buzz because of its unique approach to teaching. Infused in this book are ideas for teaching that can truly have an impact on students which will serve them well in the 21st-century.”
“Perhaps one of the best and most refreshingly readable books that can literally transform the way we teach our students... What makes this book sing are the revolutionary ideas that are so easy to implement.”
About the Author
Laura Fleming has been a New Jersey educator for 17 years. She is currently a Library Media Specialist for grades 9-12, as well as an educational consultant, thought-leader and speaker.
Recently, Laura created a digital badge-based professional development platform in which educators all over the world earn badges in acknowledgement of their informal professional learning. Her library Makerspace has garnered national attention and has served as an inspiration for schools across the country. She is also a recipient of the National School Boards “20 to Watch” in Educational Technology Leadership for 2014.
Interested in more makerspace resources? You can request a free Makerspace Playbook from the Makerspace website.
Do you have a makerspace at your school? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.
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