How to Build an Effective Makerspace

One of the most influential developments in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is the increased accessibility students have to makerspaces — areas filled with tools that both enable and encourage the process of creation.

While there are benefits to using additive and subtractive technologies such as 3D printers and laser printers, the technology within a makerspace is much less important than the empowerment these spaces provide to students who create within them.

The Maker Mindset

According to Dale Dougherty, founder of Make: Magazine and Maker Faire — the world’s largest and most influential maker festival — the effectiveness of makerspaces rests in their unique ability to foster a maker mindset. Similar to Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindsets, a maker mindset is a can-do attitude that encourages continuous improvement. It is the steadfast belief that with creativity and persistence, we can find solutions to even the most challenging problems.

Makerspaces provide the perfect opportunities to develop this type of thinking because they give children both the freedom and the responsibility to create on their own terms.

This ability to transform students into confident creators can have life-changing implications, and according to research from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, this mindset helps build a child’s awareness of how they can actively improve the world around them.

Create a Maker Mindset in Your Makerspace Today!

To learn more about how to grow a maker mindset within your students, and how to make the most of your makerspace, we invite you to download our free white paper, “How to Cultivate a Maker Mindset in Your Makerspace.”