Tag: Makerspace

Zines on display in our library
Projects, Uncategorized

The Zines Project

Julie Darling

I’ve always been intrigued by Zines. The connection to feminism and counter culture is a potent, attention-grabbing mix. The Riot Grrrl movement in the 1990s, my introduction to zines, is fascinating. Current applications for zines still combine creative self-expression and providing a platform for under-represented voices. In this case the voices of kids.

Zines Defined

So what exactly are zines? They’re independently-produced, small run magazines. Before the proliferation of Internet-based blogs and social media, this was a powerful way to express ideas, particularly those outside of the main-stream. It still is.

Scaffolding a Zines Project

When introducing a zines project with kids start with some zines history. Follow this up by explaining that this is their opportunity to tell the world about something that matters to them. This could be a passion, something they know how to do, a story, or really anything else that’s meaningful. Zines can be words, images, or a combination of the two. Show them a few examples of kid-appropriate zines (or at least zine covers).

Since we made zines that were displayed to parents, sent to other schools, and to two independent bookstores, I asked students to make sure that their zines were appropriate for any age-group and didn’t include weapons or anything else frowned upon in the school setting (and I double-checked).

Zines on display during our parent night

I had them create a story outline using a beginning-middle-end storyboard. We practiced folding a mini-zine, using a template, to get the hang of it and so that they could visualize the pages and layout of their zines.

They created their zines on blank paper using their mini-zines template as guidance and I made four photocopies of each of their completed zines. Some students chose to add color and additional details to their copies before putting a copy into separate tubs to be distributed to; two schools, two independent bookstores and one copy to put on display for our parent night, (and take home to keep after). Next time we do this project, I’ll make one additional copy that they can share or trade with a friend.

Collaborating with Other Schools

Collaborating with other schools was serendipitous. One of my colleagues messaged that she was thinking of making zines with her students at the exact same time I was starting my lesson planning. She, another interested librarian, and myself shared resources and sent completed zines to each of the other schools. My students loved seeing the zines made by students at other schools.

Real-World Connections, Profits and Student Choice

The zines we sent to the bookstores were put on display. One of the stores sold each copy for $1. The proceeds were then used to purchase books for the library. The other store gave copies away and donated books to our library.

Books on display at local bookstore.
Photo Credit Meagen Kucaj – Schuler Books

The new books were chosen by the zine authors. I gave them links to a Google form to vote for the titles they wanted to see in our library, and links to resources such as the middle-grade New York Times Best-sellers list (and our online library catalogue so that they weren’t suggesting books we already owned). I made a compilation of their suggestions (with a little help from my fabulous library clerk), and had them vote for their top 3 choices.

You Should Make Zines Too!

I highly recommend making zines with kids. It’s exciting, incredibly engaging, has real-world connections, raises student voices and covers a whole host of leaning standards along the way.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share questions, comments and other zine-related ideas in the comments below.

#zines #realworldconnection #studentvoice #studentchoice #library #makerspace #makereducation #schoollibraries

Uncategorized

It’s Finally Here! After a five year journey -Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects hits the shelves today.

Julie Darling
Book - Social Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects

It’s been quite an adventure! This book went through title changes, three different publishers (before landing with marvelous Routledge), and several times I believed it might be scrapped, altogether. I did my best to make it practical, useful. My greatest hope is that some of you, out there in the wider world, are able to utilize the tips, projects and reproducibles to help kids spread a bit of brightness.

You can get your copy through Amazon or on the Routledge website use FLR40 for a 20% discount * Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount and only applies to books purchased directly via the Routledge website.

I’d love to hear what you think! Feel free to comment below, or shoot me an email at growingmakerspace@gmail.com. Happy reading!

Projects, Utilizing Your Makerspace

Still waiting on your COVID vaccine? Combine hygge and makerspace to make staying home more tolerable

Julie Darling

It’s February. Here in Michigan that means it’s bitterly cold, and most days are gray. Snow, ice, and temperatures in the single digits make socializing out-of-doors a challenge. For those who are unvaccinated, socializing indoors is tempting, but it’s certainly a risk. So, how do you make staying home more tolerable?

Embrace Hygge

Instead of railing against the cold weather, why not embrace it by adopting Hygge. Think fuzzy socks, warm beverages, comfort food, candles, and anything else that helps you feel warm, cozy and content. Hygge is lovely. It can change your perception of Winter from something that has to be endured, to something truly enjoyable. Embracing Hygge is a good start, but I encourage you to take it even one step further.

Combine Hygge and Makerspace to Make it Even Better

When I’m at home, one thing that takes my mind off things (like the fact that my freshly washed, still damp hair – froze – when I stepped outside for half a second), is immersing myself in a project. If you aren’t already in the middle of a project, consider starting one now…and pick a project that embodies Hygge. Maybe for you that means knitting a pair of fuzzy socks, cooking a pot of soup from scratch, or building a rack for your wood pile from repurposed lumber. For me, it means making hand-poured candles scented with essential oils. If you’d like to give this a try, I’ve included step-by-step instructions below.

How to Make Hand-Poured – Essential Oil Scented – Container Candles

What You’ll Need

  • Heat resistant containers (mason jars, jelly jars, coffee mugs or tea cups)
  • Wicks
  • Glue dots for bottom of the wicks
  • Wax (I used soy natural candle wax flakes)
  • Something to hold the wick straight (bow tie clip, tongue depressors or craft sticks)
  • Stainless steel pouring pot
  • A second, bigger pot, to create a double-boiler
  • Water
  • Towels
  • Essential oils 
  • Long stirring spoon
  • Oven mitts
  • Food scale
  • A Tablespoon measure
  • A stove or hot plate
  • Baking soda (in case of fire)
  • Fire extinguisher

Note: You can buy most of these materials, fairly inexpensively, as part of a candle making kit. Wax flakes and essential oils may need to be purchased separately.

Instructions

Weigh your stainless steel pouring container on your food scale. Make a note of how much it weighs when empty. Add a pound of wax flakes. If you don’t have a food scale, you can just eyeball this by filling your wax pouring container until you have about 2-3 inches of space at the top.

Measure out a pound of wax flakes

Next, set up your heat resistant containers. Make sure you have several containers prepped. I found that a pound of wax filled about 4 jelly jars. Start by attaching a glue dot to the bottom of the wick.

Attach a glue dot to the bottom of your candle wick

Use the other side of the glue dot to attach the wick to the inside, center, of your candle container. Secure the top of the wick to your bow tie clip, tongue depressors or craft stick, to make sure it stays straight when you pour in the wax, later. Place your prepped containers on top of a towel to catch any wax drips.

Make sure that the wick is centered

Create a double boiler by placing the wax pouring container into a larger-sized pot, with a few inches of water inside the larger-sized pot. It should be enough water that it won’t all boil off while you’re melting the wax, but not so much that water will pour over the side of your wax pouring container and into your melting wax. 

Place your double-boiler on top of the stove top or hot plate, and turn the temperature up to medium-high.

Use a double-boiler to melt your wax

Keep an eye on your melting wax at all times. Make sure you have the baking soda and fire extinguisher within reach. You can’t use water to put out a wax fire. Baking soda or a fire extinguisher will work. Stirring the wax with a long spoon will help it melt more quickly. Once your wax is completely melted, remove your wax pouring container from the double boiler and place on a towel.

If you’re using wax with a higher melting point than 130 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ll want to wait until the wax cools to 130 degrees Fahrenheit before adding in your essential oils, or they can burn off, leaving you with a lightly-scented, or unscented candle. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can also just add the essential oils once the side of your wax pouring container is still warm to the touch (but not so hot that it burns your hand) and the wax is still liquid.

Measure out 1 Tablespoon of essential oil (this can be just one scent or several blended). Pour your essential oil into the melted wax, a little at a time, continuing to stir the wax as you’re adding the oil. This is the part of candle making that my kids liked best, they really enjoyed coming up with recipes for the candle scents. One of the completed candles ended up smelling a little bit like bug spray, so we named that one “Summer Nights”. If you want better control over the scent, you might want to stick with just one essential oil.

Pour your wax into your prepared containers, leaving about 1/2 -1 inch of space at the top.

Pour the melted wax into your prepared containers

Once your wax has cooled enough that it’s solid, remove your popsicle stick (or whatever you used to secure your wick). Using scissors, trim your wick to 1/2-1 inch above the top of the wax.

These candles make great gifts too!

Good luck! Stay safe. If you have a maker project that’s also Hygge, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Makerspace Management, Utilizing Your Makerspace

Black Lives Matter and Inclusion in Makerspace

Julie Darling
BLM Dog Bandana created by Detroit based artist Je’Tone Cherene, available through Instagram @fly.k9

Makers. Do something. 

It’s no secret that makerspaces, at least in the United States, are dominated by white people, usually men. Even in the professional makerspace that I frequent, whose owners focus on inclusion and diversity, there are rarely any people of color using the equipment. 

Maker events such as Maker Faire are more of the same. Mostly white men sharing the cool things they’ve made, occasionally a white woman, and less frequently a person of color. 

So, how do we change that?

Representation Matters – So Start There

While writing my book Teach Kids to Use Makerspace to Save Our World (publication pending) , I interviewed Taryn Gal, the Executive Director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health, about inclusion. We were specifically discussing inclusion of girls and LGBTQ youth, but the idea that representation matters absolutely applies to people of color, too. 

The gist is, you need to make sure that anything you put on view has diverse representation. This includes male, female, nonbinary, people of color, LGBTQ and differently abled. Anything that has people on it should communicate inclusion; posters, pamphlets, websites. 

When people see posters and other images that look like them, it feels inviting. When there are only people who look a certain way, those are the only people who will be comfortable in your space. If you don’t have any images of black people on your makerspace walls, displays and website you need to fix that right now.

Create Inclusive Policies and Facilities

Make sure that your makerspace policies have language about inclusion. You might consider adopting the Nation of Makers Core Principles statement.

Make certain that you have bathrooms available for men, women and nonbinary members and that all of these bathrooms have inclusive signage.

Design your makerspace so that those who are differently abled, including wheelchair bound, are able to use your space and equipment.

Invest in Your Local Black Community

Sponsor a black artist/maker with a maker-in-residency, or just free access to your equipment. Even better, sponsor several, if your space can support that.

Consider a partnership with a local, predominantly black, school. This could mean sponsoring a FIRST robotics team, offering free classes to students, lending out equipment for student use or offering free teacher training.

When you purchase tools and materials, try to do so through black-owned businesses. Yelp recently added a way to search for black-owned businesses (businesses will have to opt in to participate), and there are several other websites and apps that can help you locate black-owned businesses near you. 

Keep the Momentum Going

Don’t stop here. Keep educating yourself about ways to be aware, inclusive and supportive. 

If you have other suggestions, post them in the comments below. 

COVID-19, Utilizing Your Makerspace

Makers and Factories Helping with PPE and Ventilator Shortages During COVID-19 Crisis

Julie Darling
Some Makers Are 3D Printing Ventilator Parts

With scary statistics of climbing COVID-19 cases dominating the news, it’s important to balance this with hope. The COVID-19 global pandemic has left so much uncertainty in its wake, it’s hard to know what to do to help. Makerspaces are equipped with tools and machines that can be used to make life-saving gear, but will hospitals welcome it? If so, how can you be certain that you’re making personal protective equipment (PPE), or ventilator parts, correctly? 

Start by Checking Hospital Websites

Check your local hospital’s website to see what’s needed. Even if they aren’t accepting donations produced outside of a factory – yet – that doesn’t mean they won’t need to do so in the future. Here in Michigan, we are currently under a shelter-in-place executive order. However, leaving home in order to donate protective gear to health organizations, is allowed. 

As of today, the University of Michigan hospitals are not accepting hand-sewn masks or 3D printed parts for ventilators, but if you have hand sanitizer, wipes, or factory-made masks to donate, they are in dire need. The medical professionals that I’ve spoken to have also indicated that what will be accepted, and what is needed, is changing on an hourly basis. It’s a good idea to keep checking back. It also doesn’t hurt to start making hand-sewn masks and other equipment, just in case.

What to Make and How to Make it

Lately, there has been an influx of information about homemade COVID-19 supplies and remedies. Many of these sites contain false, and even dangerous information. Unfortunately, you can’t make hand sanitizer from Tito’s vodka. Additionally, extrapolated home remedies such as ingesting non-pharmaceutical chloroquine phosphate, can prove deadly. Before you start making, it’s really important to determine that you have accurate information, but how do you know where to look?

Two organizations at the forefront of makerspaces are Nation of Makers and Make Community.  Both have pages devoted to COVID-19. Nation of Makers has a listing of initiatives with how-to details, that other makerspaces are taking in response to COVID-19. The Make Community has a Plan C from Makerspace page with resources such as open source ventilator plans, and protective face shield designs.  

More Help Coming Soon

Although makerspace grassroots efforts are important, there is also more large-scale help coming soon. Although you can’t make hand sanitizer from Tito’s vodka at home, Tito’s and other distilleries have started to produce hand sanitizer, on site.  General Motors and Tesla are working to repurpose factories to produce needed ventilators.  Ford is helping with respirators, ventilators and face shields.  3M has also increased their production of N95 masks. 

What You Can Do

Making PPE and ventilator parts at home, is a great use of maker skills. Despite the help coming from industry, this maker-made equipment may still be needed. The best thing we can all do, is practice social distancing. Talented makers should also keep an eye on the local hospital websites to see what’s being currently accepted, and what’s needed most, by our heroic health care workers. 

Makerspace Management

Make it Easier for Students and Educators to do the Right Thing

Julie Darling
Modeling doing the right thing – wearing safety goggles while building a table.

Back in 2015, when I started really digging into makerspace, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Makerspace Operations Bootcamp, through Makerworks. The training was 5-days, intensive, and really, really good. I walked away with a much more comprehensive knowledge of all things makerspace, and I got to play with some really cool machinery, too. One of the messages conveyed through the training was to make it easier for your makers to do the right thing (rather than the wrong thing).

Difficulty Doing the Right Thing

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about that message. In particular, all the hurdles that make it difficult to do the right thing. I see these everywhere. From confusing directions, to blocked educational websites, to too many steps needed to complete tasks. We make both students and educators jump through hoop after hoop in order to get where we want them to go. This causes frustration. It makes everything more difficult than it needs to be. It needs to stop. I would even argue that this is one (of several) factors causing the highest rate on record of teachers quitting their jobs in public schools across America.

Making it Easier

If we are going to be effective educators, leaders, mentors, makerspace managers, we need to rethink the way that we do things. We need to make it easier to do the right thing. This should be a lens through which we view every rule we make, every lesson or project we plan, each new initiative we envision. Even the way we evaluate teachers. Just imagine how much better classroom management could be, and how much more effective our educators, if we made it easier to do the right thing. The entire profession would be transformed.

For example, if we actually provided the resources needed to do the things that educators are asked to do, educators could be much more effective. If we had enough staff working to get everything done (which would translate to smaller class sizes), there would be a better work-life balance, and less burnout.  If we had enough time to give to students who are struggling, students would be more successful across the board. 

How this Translates to Makerspace Management

This lens absolutely applies to makerspace management. We need to make it easier for students to make safe (right) choices. When you are setting up your makerspace think about hanging safety equipment in front of where your makers will need to use it, posting safety instructions at workstations, and having a good adult-to-maker ratio.

Set everyone up for success. Put time and funding into helping your makers do the right thing.


Makerspace Management, Utilizing Your Makerspace

Making Meaningful Makerspaces

Julie Darling
You can find projects like this infinity scarf, designed by fashion designer Netti Tiso, in my book You’ve Got a Makerspace – Now What? Teaching Kids to use Makerspace to Better Our World.
Publication date tentatively set for 2020.

As some of you know, I”ve been keeping a (poorly held) secret for the past year – I’ve been writing a book about makerspaces. It has been, hands down, one of the single most challenging experiences that I’ve ever had. It’s required a lot of sacrifice, most of all with my time. I’ve also gotten very comfortable with an unparalleled level of rejection of my thoughts…ideas…writing. 

However, I’ve also learned SO much. I’m a substantially better writer than I was when I started this process. I’ve also spent hours thinking about the purpose of makerspaces.

When I first started my book, it was titled Build and Manage a Makerspace for Kids. The aim of writing it was to keep those of you buildings makerspaces from having to make your way through in the dark. More specifically, to provide management techniques, thoughts about which tools work well with particular age groups, and best practices for teaching kids to use these tools. I wanted you to benefit from the thousands of hours I’ve spent figuring everything out.

By February, I was halfway through writing it, when my publisher contacted me and informed me that the marketplace was flooded with how to start makerspace books. I had to start over. I was devastated. They suggested that I write my book assuming that the reader has a makerspace already. It took me a little while to warm up to that idea. That wasn’t my original vision. I wasn’t sure that’s the book that I wanted to write. I wondered what I could contribute that would still be beneficial. 

This is when I started thinking about what we do well in our makerspace, and my immediate answer was passion projects. Which led to the next logical question – why do the passion projects get such great results? There is plenty of research out there that tells us that in order to get kids excited, engaged and passionate about school work there are two major motivating factors; choice, and some sort of real-world connection. The way that the passion projects are designed does both, which is why the kids stay engaged, and get incredible results. 

I only give them two rules; they can’t do anything that involves money, or weapons. I also ask them to figure out who is going to benefit from their projects – themselves (which is completely valid), their school, their community (neighborhood, sports team, place of worship or however they define that), or the whole world. This scaffolds them to think concretely about that real-world connection. From here, the kids take off. Some projects they’ve done include making and donating blankets to animal shelters, inventing a vending machine with food and supplies to help the homeless or people in areas that have been devastated by natural disasters, coding games, presenting plans to make everything in school more inclusive to a wheelchair bound friend, building working snowboards and designing and making clothing for their pets. You can check out photos and videos of some of these passion projects on my Twitter feed @julielibrarian or Instagram @growingmakerspace. 

Kids want to do good in the world. Giving them a way to do this, through the use of a makerspace, is the best way to utilize a makerspace for kids. I strongly urge you, if you have access to the incredible tools that makerspace provides, help kids learn to use those tools to better our world. If you want some suggestions on specific ways to do this, although I don’t yet have a firm publication date, my book You’ve Got a Makerspace – Now What? Teaching Kids to Use Makerspace to Better Our World will hopefully be out in the world at some point in 2020. I’ll keep you posted on that through this blog. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts or ideas to share on the topic, feel free to comment on this post. You are also welcome to shoot me an email at growingmakerspace@gmail.com .

Until next time!

Makerspace Roots

The Origin Story of Makerspace

Julie Darling
Students working on computers in our makerspace–using Makey Makey– and creating perler bead pixel art

If you’re reading this, you probably already have some ideas about what a makerspace is. However, you may not know the origin story – how makerspace came about, and the ways in which the history of makerspace influences what we see today. To supplement my own five-year journey with makerspace, I did some research. This is what I discovered.

If you sensed a hint of the subversive in makerspace, you’d be right. Makerspaces harkens back to the late-1990s with hackerspaces. These were preceded by hacklabs, which first came on the scene in the mid-1990s. Both hacklabs and hackerspaces were a result of the proliferation of personal computers. Both also have computers and hacker culture at their respective centers. However, hacklabs are usually associated with some sort of political agenda, whereas hackerspaces are thought of as community organizations for learning and collaboration. What hackerspaces and makerspaces share in common is the focus on community and the use of technology.

So how did makerspaces branch off from hackerspaces? The answer, put simply, is Dale Dougherty. Dougherty is the founder of Maker Media, MAKE magazine and inventor of the term makerspace. Legend goes that Dougherty was originally going to call MAKE magazine HACK. When he proposed HACK as the name of his magazine to his daughter, she purportedly said that he should call it MAKE instead, because ‘everyone likes making things’.  The first issue of MAKE was published in January, 2005. Dougherty likened it to “Martha Stewart for geeks” and with this single publication, the maker movement was nudged into the mainstream.

The term makerspace didn’t come into play until several years after the launch of Make magazine, in 2011, when Dougherty registered makerspace.com, and started using makerspace to refer to spaces for designing and creating (often with kids). This was the point at which the maker movement started really taking off.

MAKE has always had its finger on the pulse of what’s trending in makerspaces and although some of the content is more applicable to professional making, it also contains some practical, kid-friendly projects, often complete with images, project completion time estimates and materials cost. MAKE also publishes a desktop fabrication guide with reviews of tools such as 3D printers, CNC and Lasers. This is akin to the Consumer Reports car buying guides, but for desktop fabrication. If you are considering making something, there has likely been an article written about it in MAKE.

Makerspace vs. Hackerspace

Makerspaces and hackerspaces currently exist all over the world. So, how do we differentiate between them? Honestly, it depends a lot upon who you ask. From my experiences, I tend to think of them in contrast to each other. Hackerspaces tend to be edgier, makerspaces a bit friendlier and more welcoming. Hackerspaces have a heavy tech focus, makerspaces tend to blend in more of the D.I.Y.

Makerspaces are usually more kid-friendly. Of the hackerspaces that I’ve encountered, I would not send a kid to any of them without a trusted adult (although I’m sure there are exceptions where that would be perfectly fine). This is partly because in hackerspaces, often the activities aren’t something a kid could do without help, either the materials or equipment are too dangerous (using lead solder, for example) or the skills are too advanced for kids, at least those younger than high-school aged.

If you’re wondering if there are any makerspaces or hackerspaces near you, there is a directory you can check. You can also register your makerspace or hackerspace in this same directory, once you have it up and running. You might be surprised by how many you find. Go check them out!