What started as a DIY counterculture movement has become one of the hottest trends in K-12: makerspaces (find a primer on the topic in this video). School librarians were one of the first to embrace these new learning spaces, and Laura Fleming offers a good article in School Library Journal on the topic here. littleBits, which offers electronic building blocks, announced an education division in September, and Autodesk offers a free “academy” where schools can get lessons, projects, and curriculum. T&L has archived highlights from our sessions on making and coding here. Even Cuba is getting in on the movement with its first annual “Open Technology for Life” conference, where American and Cuban Makers will spend three days together making open technology to solve some of Cuba’s immediate problems. But, Chris Aviles offers a word of caution in his post, “The Makerspace Is Doomed”: “Basically, it is Shop class 2.0. And like Shop class, the Makerspace is doomed. The Makerspace has five years left, ten if it’s lucky.” But, he offers this, as a solution: “Making shouldn’t be confined to an elective or focused only on STEM; it should be the main way that we teach our students.” How is your school making? Let us know at cweiser@nbmedia.com – Christine Weiser, Executive Editor
