Makerspaces are constructionist learning spaces in which learning comes from active, hands on interaction with both tech and non-tech materials. Makerspaces Australia defines makerspaces as:

“A place where people can come together to use, and learn to use materials as well as develop creative projects. Makerspaces promote learning through play and can be created in a classroom, a library or even in a stand alone building. The important idea is that it is a place that can be used for a range of activities with changing and flexible educational goals and creative purposes.” (Makerspaces Australia)

There are many examples of the types of activities that take place in makerspaces. I want to share one example here to show how the concept of Makerspaces relates directly to the concepts introduced by Dr. Kalantzis and Dr. Cope in this week’s lecture content. This Simple Circuits Challenge Lesson Plan makes use of a piece of technology called Makey Makey. You can read the lesson plan if you want to know more, but the relevant information is that In this lesson students learn about how circuits work by creating one.

In Part 2A, Dr. Kalantzis talks about a learning space where “You can be an investigator, a designer, a creator, simultaneously as everybody else in that group”. This is precisely what happens in Makerspaces and in this particular lesson plan. Each student tinkers and experiments and discovers their own knowledge and understanding in their own way.

Dr. Cope spoke about how digital ecologies have changed both the role of the textbook (Part 2B) and the role of memory (Part 2C) in teaching and learning. The Simple Circuits maker activity can be used to illustrate both of these points. In the makerspace, students are not reading about circuits in a textbook and memorizing how they work in order to explain it on an exam. Instead, they are building their own knowledge about how circuits work from hands on experiences. I think this image does a good job of demonstrating this concept as well.

Makerspaces are also excellent examples of the shift of knowledge flows from hierarchical to lateral (Part 2B). Again, in the Simple Circuit activity all the students are actively participating in the creation of their own knowledge. The teacher is not “the sage on the stage” and the textbook is not directing the learning. Students are also encouraged to work with others to help solve the problem and collaboratively. This is an excellent illustration of the change in the balance of agency as discussed in Part 2D.

If you want to learn more about Makerspaces, I recommend the book Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering and Engineering in the Classroom by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager.