Purdue Extension Does…Makers movement - Dubois County Free Press, Inc.

Logan Fischer, 9, worked on creating a crane using cardboard, tape, and balloons during the Spark Club offered over Spring Break. Fischer was inspired by the story of Caine’s Arcade (Google it) to build something using the common materials and his imagination. The majority of the 20 children attending the Makers Spark Club gravitated towards the cardboard and other scrap materials to build something like Caine’s Arcade despite electronic offerings that were also available.

The maker spaces movement is an up and coming trend among many schools and youth development programs today. However, many adults are less familiar with makers.

So what is it?

A maker space is a place for kids to explore their creativity by designing and making new things. The space includes resources of all kinds, and youth simply use the provided resources to create something new. Makerspaces can involve new technologies for kids to work with such as ozobots, 3D printers, or other technologies. They can also involve items as low tech as cardboard or popsicle sticks. Makerspaces can provide a pathway for youth to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) activities.

Purdue Extension offered a Makers Spark Club to youth in Dubois County during spring break. In case you are unaware, a spark club is a short-term 4-H experience. The entire experience typically lasts about six hours. Spark clubs are wonderful because they can cover any topic and are not limited to traditional 4-H project areas. It made the perfect platform to provide youth with a maker space experience.

Toyota recently awarded a grant to Purdue Extension and 4-H to provide makers kits to 11 counties in the southwest corner of Indiana. These kits include a range of materials that youth can manipulate, program, design, or construct. Examples of some of the materials in the makers kit are strawbees, ozobots, hexbugs, kiva planks, popsicle sticks, 3D pens, button makers, jewelry making kits, makey makeys, etc. The materials provide great inspiration to youth and help engage them in STEM experiences. Makerspaces also attract all types of youth to STEM-related activities. We had 20 participants in our makers spark club from a wide age range. There were participants from 3rd grade all the way to 11th grade. Over half of our participants were female which is amazing considering females are less likely to show an interest in STEM activities and careers.

As an adult, I am fascinated by the innovative technologies in the kits such as ozobots which are robots that can be coded by drawing with markers or the 3D pens which are pens that can create 3D figures. I made the mistake of thinking that youth today would be fascinated by the same things as me. I didn’t think kids would have any interest in popsicle sticks or button makers.

However, the participants in the Spark Club were involved with everything! In fact, the most popular activity among the kids was creating arcade games out of cardboard. Many spent all week on their arcade game. It’s important that adults don’t assume we know what kids are interested in all the time. We could be stifling their creativity in the process.

One key observation during our makers spark club was the total lack of behavior problems in the room. Kids had the freedom to switch stations whenever they wanted and work with items that inspired them. They did just that and were busy at work the entire time. The only problem we had was when the kids had to clean up and go home. We had a hard time getting them to leave.

Makerspaces get youth excited about learning and creating. In this day and age, it is important for youth to be in a space where there are no right or wrong answers. They can simply explore. This environment appeals to youth with a variety learning styles especially those who are kinesthetic learners. Kinesthetic learners desire hands-on learning and tend to struggle more in traditional school environments.

Purdue Extension and 4-H will be offering another opportunity for youth to participate in a maker space, but this time it is for youth in grades K-2. The Exploring 4-H Day Camp will take place on Tuesday, June 6th and Wednesday, June 7th at the Dubois County 4-H Fairgrounds from 9-4pm. The theme for the camp is Makers Mania, and we will have multiple opportunities for youth to learn how to create different things. The camp is only one day, but we are offering two opportunities to attend the camp. The camp is open to both current 4-H members and non-4-H members. Please contact the Extension Office at 812-482-1782 or jmonarch@purdue.edu for more information. The deadline to register is May 30th.

Interested in creating a maker space for your child? There’s no need to spend tons of money. Recycled materials like cardboard can easily get you started. Kids can make something out of anything. The makers movement simply embraces a child’s greatest asset, their imagination.

Jenny Monarch McGuire
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
Purdue Extension – Dubois County