Resources for Maker Education

Understanding The Maker Movement in Education

• The Maker Movement: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants to Own the Future: To better make the case for making, learn about the maker movement’s pedagogical roots. (Edutopia, 2014)
• How the Maker Movement Is Moving Into Classrooms: Get familiar with maker terminology and trends: Maker Faires, fab labs, hackerspaces, makerspaces, and more. (Edutopia, 2014)
• How the Maker Movement Connects Students to Engineering and Tech: Watch a video to see how one eighth grade student uses his passion for electronics to teach fellow students about 3D printing, Arduinos, and other hands-on lessons in STEM skills. (Edutopia, 2014)

• Meaningful Making: Projects and Inspirations for Fab Labs and Makerspaces: In this free online book, the Stanford University FabLearn Fellows take you on a tour of making and digital fabrication in education; explore project ideas, articles, best practices, and assessment strategies. (FabLearn, 2016)
• Dive Into the Maker Movement: Accompany an educator on a visit to the fab lab at New York City’s Marymount School to learn more about how the maker movement is making its way into schools. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Trees of Knowledge: Learn how one teacher creates learning landscapes with materials, tools, and projects to enable curiosity to take root and knowledge to grow. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Research Roundup, Some Studies on Making and Learning: Explore the research supporting the case for making in education. (Makerspace)

Getting Started With Making in Schools

• Make the Most of the Maker Movement: Take a look at five suggestions for early adopters of maker approaches in schools. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Middle School Maker Journey: Top 20 Technologies and Tools: Examine a list of 20 great tools that can help facilitate great projects and experiences in your makerspace. This post is fifth in a series describing one middle school educator’s year-long journey with making -- read all the other posts to learn more about his journey. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Supporting Maker Education District-Wide: Review critical components to consider in order to effectively implement maker education within a school district. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Maker Education Resources: Explore lesson plans, tools, and tips on integrating maker education in the classroom. (Sonoma County Office of Education)
• MakerEd’s Resource Library: Browse a library full of resources on everything maker: project ideas, assessment tools, makerspace design tips, and professional development tools. (Maker Ed)
• A Blueprint: Maker Programs for Youth: Download a PDF guide on how to design and implement a maker program in your school, community, or just about anywhere. (New York Hall of Science)
• What's Next for Maker Education: Find information, resources, and professional-development opportunities in this online guide, including Edsurge's recent coverage on funding and building a makerspace, creating more equitable maker communities, expert tips, Maker Faire, and more. An earlier guide on "How to Build a Maker Community" is also worth a view. (Edsurge, 2016)

Launching School Makerspaces

• Starting a School Makerspace From Scratch: Discover six tips for launching a school makerspace from scratch. Also take a look at "Fostering Creativity With Makerspaces" for another perspective on how to get started. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Designing a School Makerspace: Consider some important questions as you define and design the right makerspace for your school. (Edutopia, 2013)
• School Libraries and Makerspaces: Can They Coexist?: Learn about ways that schools are combining and overlapping their libraries and makerspaces. To learn how a teacher and librarian partnered to make this happen at their school, take a look at "Making Room for Making." (Edutopia, 2015)
• School Makerspaces: Building the Buzz: Make sure to build some excitement around your new makerspace by considering some of these tips for engaging students, supporting colleagues, and innovatively using the space. (Edutopia, 2015)

Building Maker Mindsets and Culture

• Designing Classroom Makerspaces for Transformative Learning: Discover how integrating maker culture into curriculum can transform how learning happens in schools. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Capture the Learning: Crafting the Maker Mindset: Review a few simple steps for incorporating a maker mindset into how you plan classroom activities. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Creating an Authentic Maker Education Rubric: Download a three-part rubric to guide students through process, understanding, and product. An editable version is also available. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Design Thinking, Making, and Learning From the Heart: To better understand how to incorporate design thinking into maker education, learn how students engaged their senses and empathy through a WWI memorial project. (Edutopia, 2015)
• How Maker Culture Builds Stronger Learning Communities: Learn about an innovative youth leadership program called Public Workshop and how they partnered with high school students to remake their environment. (Edutopia, 2015)

Selecting Maker Tools and Projects

• 6 Reasons Why Puppets Will Change Your Classroom Forever: Discover the myriad benefits of puppet-making, and find out how to get started. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Jaw-Dropping Classroom 3D Printer Creations: Learn more about 3D printing and possibilities for schools. To navigate your first year of incorporating 3D printing into classroom projects, find 17 helpful tips in "Year One With a 3D Printer." (Edutopia, 2015)
• Dissecting the Un-Makerspace: Consider making an "un-makerspace" dedicated to dismantling obsolete technology to investigate how it works. (Edutopia, 2014)
• The DIY World of Maker Tools and Their Uses: Bookmark this primer to typical maker tools and materials. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Making (in) History: Learning by Reinvention: Explore making within the history curriculum. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Maker Faire Classroom Pack Activities: Download five different maker classroom activities -- including step-by-step instructions -- for projects like sculpted circuits, scribble machines, and paper circuits. (Makezine)

Reaching All Makers

• ‘Diversity Does Not Happen By Accident’ and Other Lessons About Equity in the Maker Movement: Explore takeaways from a panel of researchers and practitioners on equity and making, organized by the Stanford School of Education. (Edsurge, 2016)
• The New Face of STEAM: See how one school implements culturally responsive instruction in their STEAM Lab, a space that is part makerspace, part artists' studio, and part fabrication laboratory. (Edutopia, 2016)
• Encouraging Neurodiversity in Your Makerspace or Classroom: Learn how students with neurological differences bring unique qualities of focus, nonlinear thinking, recall, and brainstorming enthusiasm to a makerspace or classroom. (Edutopia, 2016)
• Design Challenge: DIY Assistive Game Controllers: Consider using tools like Makey Makey to transform game controllers into devices that students of any ability can enjoy. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Makerspaces for Students With Special Needs: Discover how students with special needs and neurological differences can benefit from the hands-on process, experimental nature, and visible results of maker education. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Maker Movement: Bridging the Gap Between Girls and STEM: Find out how girls at the Ellis School are empowered to identify for themselves what personal and community challenges they want to address through making. (ISTE, 2014)

Examples From Schools That Work

Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. Below, dive into real-world examples of maker education in practice.

Maker Education: Reaching All Learners

At Albemarle County Public Schools, maker education fosters student autonomy, ignites student interest, and empowers students to embrace their own learning.

• A Student Maker and the Birth of a Startup: Read one student’s account of how he responded to a summer maker challenge and ended up demonstrating his sports training product prototype at a White House tech innovation fair.