Creating an focused but open engineering makerspace

By: Mr. Yosef Skolnick
from Shulamith High School of Cedarhurst

Categories:
Differentiated Instruction, Risk Taking and Failure

Subject(s) of entry:
Art, Computer Science, Math, Science, STEM, Technology, Engineering

Pedagogy:
Blended Learning, IBL - inquiry based learning, PBL - project based learning, 21st Century Skills

Grade(s) to which this was taught:
9, 10, 11, High school

Grade(s) for which this will be useful:
9, 10, 11, High school

During this 6 week course, students were exposed to open-ended engineering design and multidisciplinary entrepreneurship in this unique makerspace course. Students with minimal background in STEM and electronics came away with a physical 3d prototype with sensors coded on arduino, a blog/website, initial business analysis, and in many cases an app. These were all created by the students with guidance from students a few years older. Students were given short focused PBL lessons to build their skills in key areas such as electronics, arduino coding, patent law, business development, app design etc. followed up by individualized online learning specific for their projects.

Entry Narrative