KISJ Middle School Makerspace
Upon seeing a need for students to work on problem solving and reflecting, I created a MakerSpace elective open to students in seventh and eighth grade.
Prior to starting their independent maker projects, students worked together creating in a variety of lessons.
3D Korean Puzzle Assembly
For the first class project of the year, the students worked in groups to assemble puzzles of Korean landmarks. During the first round, they worked without the directions to see how it feels to work on a project without a plan. After a set amount of time, they were given the instructions.
For the first class project of the year, the students worked in groups to assemble puzzles of Korean landmarks. During the first round, they worked without the directions to see how it feels to work on a project without a plan. After a set amount of time, they were given the instructions.
Bubble Wrap Ensemble Assessment
This assessment allowed students to demonstrate their understand of planning, teamwork, and presentation. After being put into teams, the class was given 80 minutes, a large amount of bubble wrap, a variety of other resources, and a correlating rubric. At the end of their allotted time, the teams presented their creation to myself and another teacher, explaining their plan and why they chose their particular design.
This assessment allowed students to demonstrate their understand of planning, teamwork, and presentation. After being put into teams, the class was given 80 minutes, a large amount of bubble wrap, a variety of other resources, and a correlating rubric. At the end of their allotted time, the teams presented their creation to myself and another teacher, explaining their plan and why they chose their particular design.
Global Cardboard Challenge
In pairs, students created arcade games out of cardboard inspired by Caine's Arcade for the Global Cardboard Challenge. With their only tools being cardboard, paper, tape, and their imaginations, each pair created a game to be played by a second grader. Students were evaluated on their ability to create plans, work together, and reflect on their work.
In pairs, students created arcade games out of cardboard inspired by Caine's Arcade for the Global Cardboard Challenge. With their only tools being cardboard, paper, tape, and their imaginations, each pair created a game to be played by a second grader. Students were evaluated on their ability to create plans, work together, and reflect on their work.
Sphero Maze Creation
A number of students chose to focus their self-directed work time on creating a maze for the Sphero Sprk+ and then programming it to run. After about six hours of work, students watched with anticipation and relief when the Sphero successfully ran the maze.
A number of students chose to focus their self-directed work time on creating a maze for the Sphero Sprk+ and then programming it to run. After about six hours of work, students watched with anticipation and relief when the Sphero successfully ran the maze.
PHOTOSHOP
During the student lunch block twice a week, students sign up for a club of their choosing. These are projects from my Photoshop club.
Colorizing Black and White Landscapes
In order to become comfortable with the brush tool, students chose public domain black and white photographs to colorize. Struggling with brush control at first, students quickly realized the value of zooming into their images and shrinking the brush size.
Food Face
To gain experience with layer duplication and the magnetic lasso tool, students created faces out of food in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The biggest struggle students faced appeared to be remembering to bring their downloaded images into Photoshop through the proper process.
To gain experience with layer duplication and the magnetic lasso tool, students created faces out of food in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The biggest struggle students faced appeared to be remembering to bring their downloaded images into Photoshop through the proper process.
As the final project of the semester, students used all the skills they had built over the previous months to turn a photo of schoolmates with wands into a Harry Potter style image.
Throughout the semester students completed a variety of other projects. Here is a taste of their work.