Ostap Senyuk

As much as there is newly fueled enthusiasm for a place that has a set of resources from which like-minded students can explore questions through the sometimes collaborative process of working with physical and virtual resources and materials, makerspaces are reminiscent for me of the free-play time that was afforded to us in our kindergarten classrooms. The kind of “play” in the sandbox was often informed and loosely structured by a previously exciting lesson.

The power behind makerspaces, however, is the incitement and structural framework that is provided to the students before letting them go to the makerspace. Engaging students with the tools to explore questions leads them to working constructively in the makerspace.

As professionals often collaborate and converge with sometimes seemingly disparate resources to solve emerging issues or develop further inroads into a field of science, invention, or research, their initial meetings are filled with excitement and chaos. The testing lab phase of their collaboration can be closely compared to the school sandbox at recess or the makerspace in an elementary school classroom. The trick then is how bridge these two similar worlds into the learning environment of the teenager at the middle or high school level. How does the teacher preserve the rush of inventiveness and drive to explore solutions from many angles the way that a makerspace can for the professional or the child?

Dr. Sandra Becker provides a key insight into answering that question with an almost double-sided approach. The teacher must provide the catalyst for the inventive process to begin. This is presented to students in the form of questions that bring shape and theme to a conversation that should lead eventually to a question or issue that begs for a solution. This structured beginning, however, must also reveal to the students that the teacher is willing to risk diving into the unknown.

The excitement of playing in the sandbox is the exchange between having an idea and pursuing the answer through improvisation and informed exploration. Worlds of imagination are allowed to come alive in this space that holds deep regard for unbridled creativity and respect for the invitation to fail and try again.