Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation: "We have to move from an engine of bureaucracy to an engine of innovation," said Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter, announcing this week that at least 1,000 high schools around the country will be opening up Makerspaces over the next four years.
7 comments:
its interesting to call it the new shop class as my high school did not have a wood shop class, a metal shop class or even a stagecraft class. I think this could be a brilliant opportunity for high schoolers everywhere. i wish i had myself more experience with these areas that makerareas will teach students. its nice to see a real innitative to bring more opportunities to the high school education ring.
I really love this idea. I wish this article provided more information on how much each project needs. And how schools will be chosen to receive this. Only 1000 high schools across the country? That's a lot though. I think it's fantastic that there will be this kind of opportunity for high school kids to experiment with their creativity. I hope that it's not limited to classroom time. And that the schools that are lucky enough to be a part of this initiative can open such a lab after school for a given period of time to grant accessibility to other students, or other members of the community. I also wonder what kind of changes these resources will bring to curriculum.
I love this idea, I do. I agree with Dale's quote, "..people are looking for some substantial change in education". It certainly would take a special teacher, or group of teachers, in order to thrive. As the article mentions, high school teachers are used to lecturing, having things their way, and not really having to work *with* their students and recognizing the merit of ideas or projects they don't personally like.
I'm skeptical, though, of the actual working reality of this. Whenever any kid gets hurt on school property, in any way, no matter how stupid s/he was being, people all over the country start yelling about it. Much of the usual playground toys have all but disappeared. I had a shop class in middle school, and was able to use all the dangerous saws and tools, with supervision. Now all they are allowed to do is sand their projects. The teacher does everything else. What's going to happen the first time a kid is injured while making something related to this class? Will it be able to survive the backlash? Or is our society so used to 'babying' everyone, lawsuits, and padding playgrounds because god forbid if your kid get a scratch that we aren't ready for this yet?
This is a cool program but the overhead cost of something like a maker shop is huge at startup. Will school districts be willing to fund a shop that teaches new technology when in most high schools there is a lack of books that are updated with valid information. I see this as a great theoretical class and area of education but if we do not fund education and truly make it a priority then we will continue the free fall that the American education system has been in. We need more of this technology taught in schools and it needs to be introduced at a much earlier age. We need to be fostering interest and innovation in elementary school so that we do not end up a country of underemployed people selling big macs and frappuccinos back and forth never producing anything innovative.
I agree with Luke. As I was reading this article, I remembered the shop classes I took in middle and high school. They were no more than learning to use a band saw to create a race car, sanding it down, and assembling the pieces. My "technologies" class was no more than plugging a few circuit pieces into a board to make an LED light up or blink. I was very interested in the classes, but I always wished there was more to it. These types of classes would introduce those opportunities to students at a young age. However, most schools wouldn't be able to afford a program like that. If a school already had a class that it could build off of it might be possible, but starting from scratch is an expensive endeavor. I hope that something like this is able to be introduced into public schools so students can be exposed to this new, growing field.
I agree with Jess and Luke, I love the idea and wish I had had it, and wish that it seemed slightly more practical. I just worried that these 'shops' won't be sustainable...I personally had a couple of great intro to technology/engineering/architecture classes and there was a furniture class but after those teachers either retired or their positions cut and classes consolidated those opportunities disappeared for students very quickly. I'll be going to the Maker Faire in NYC this weekend and I'm really looking forward to experiencing this world of innovation much more. That aside it'll be very interesting to see where all of this ends up down the road.
I wish that they had this when I was in school. This would have been great getting to 3d printing and lazier cut things as a high school student.. I can’t imagine what I would have made if I had that available, I wonder where the 100 high schools are that they are putting these in. I hope that these schools are also getting a decent fund for equipment maintenance and keep the equipment supplied to get the most long term use of this investment. I also wonder where the money is coming from for this project and is it just going to well to do high schools or ones in less fortunate areas. I hope that it is a mixed bag of type of kids that get to work with this amazing equipment and they know this is a privilege to work with this and have this opportunity.
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