ISBN-13 978-0071821124
I’m reading The Maker Movement Manifesto by Mark Hatch, CEO of TechShop, to get more insight and ideas about how we can best leverage our two pop-up school-based makerspaces. (You can read the entire first chapter here.) Early in those first pages, he identifies his manifesto in short form:
Make.
Share.
Give.
Learn.
Tool Up.
Play.
Participate.
Support.
Each of these ideas is supported by a paragraph of explanation (again, see the link above), and then the book goes on to discuss each in greater depth.
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I mention the manifesto because thinking about one’s makerspace beliefs is really important work. Many people know that I get impatient when people ask, “What should we buy?” That’s a natural question, but I’m not sure it’s the right question as one is envisioning a makerspace, especially one attached to a school or library.
I believe the better first questions for aspiring makerspaces/makers are, “Why are we doing this? Who do we want to reach? What do we want them to get out of this? How much money do we have up front? How much money can we spend on ongoing kits/supplies/expenses?” and then ask, “What should we buy?” Hatch’s manifesto gives you a chance to think beyond “tools” (but not to overlook them) by inviting you to mod his vision. He grants permission for you to use it, change it, and “make it your own.”
So one of the things I’m realizing this year about my own makerspace manifesto is the idea of makerspace activities as windows, mirrors, and welcome mats. Here’s an example of why that matters: last week, at our middle school site, we retired crochet as one of our learning stations (we swapped it out for a beginning sewing activity, which can lead us to sewing machines/engineering and/or conductive thread/science).
Today, we had two middle school boys demanding to have it back. You read that right: middle school boys sulking because they could not crochet.
Now did they come to Michigan Makers expecting to like crochet? Nope – the interest was ignited when they got here. And the interest came directly from a mentor who happens to love crochet. Other mentors love taking stuff apart, connecting kids to Creative Commons communities, editing photos, coding, or building stuff. Mentors are windows, mirrors, and welcome mats, too.
Oh, and did we bring back crochet for the kids? Well, it just so happened that Mollie, our crochet mentor, was going to do an activity with kids and our brand-new Silhouette Cameo cutter. (This was a recommended purchase as a way to think about 2D printing and paper engineering — and a lot cheaper than a 3D printer, which we’ll bring onsite as soon as we have a travel case for it). We take a broad view of engineering — we don’t privilege LEGO engineering over fabric or paper engineering. All of these media encourage 3D thinking (though the paper usually starts 2D and ends up 3D!).
But the Cameo had a stuck part (and we’re getting a free replacement – hooray for Silhouette’s warranty and customer service!), so suddenly Mollie was available. And it just so happened that Mollie had brought a couple of hooks and a skein of yarn … just … in … case.
Just goes to show that you just never know when a window will become a mirror … or for whom. And that having a back-up project stashed away is always a good idea.
So yeah. Crochet is back.
In the meantime, we mentors have given ourselves a challenge. As we move through the challenge, we’ll experience being makers instead of coaching them for a bit. And if we like how it turns out, then we’ll bring it on for kids. It was super-fun to watch people’s imaginations get to work on this. We’re especially curious about one “before” garment which could end up as a lion costume? sling backpack? Time will tell …