Makers share ideas. Makers make the world an even better place.
These were the two principles behind a new after school program at Cooks Corners Elementary School – Makers Club.
The Cooks Corners Makers Club originated from the "Maker Movement" that is growing throughout the world. The idea behind the club is to instill an interest for innovation, invention, creativity and engineering in our young students. But after spending five months on this endeavor we have come to realize that it accomplished much more.
Technology Integration Specialist, Olga Granat, and I kicked off the first of the club's weekly meetings in December. About fifteen fifth grade boys and girls crossed our threshold and quickly committed to the following “Maker” ideals:
-to openly share ideas and creations with others, affording other Makers the opportunity to improve them further, and
-to create something that makes our world an even better place.
From that moment, there was no stopping it.
Within a few weeks, we had established a collaborative effort with Valparaiso University Engineering Department and its Women in Engineering group. Together, we introduced our Cooks Corners kids to computer programming, circuitry, structural engineering, and chemistry projects. We held Google chats with engineers in the field. We toured the engineering department at Valparaiso University, experiencing their virtual reality lab, conducting civil engineering projects, and meeting a robotic football team. We spent some time at the Porter County Career Center, learning first hand about project development and the hard work required to reach one’s goals. We worked with the Cooks Corners PTO to transform our annual science fair into a Makers Fair, hosting 40 participants with innovative projects and hundreds of eager guests.
Our Cooks Corners Makers Club met all of our expectations. It provided an excellent opportunity to team up with the Valparaiso community. It inspired an eclectic group of students to work together toward a common goal. It afforded children authentic opportunities to critique, assist and encourage one another. It pressed kids to think differently, ask questions, problem solve, make mistakes, grow from those mistakes and adapt.
But perhaps most importantly and unexpectedly, these children were able to look to the future, to think about their place in it, and to know that they belong. Cooks Corners Makers came to understand that they are capable of great things, and that it is their responsibility to those great things.
So, we’ll gather a new group of Makers next year. We’ll share ideas. We’ll build on those ideas. And we’ll keep making the world an even better place.