After digesting some of the amazing things that I learned last week at the Institute I am toying around with some ideas for my final project. The first idea that I had was to create some sort of kinetic sculpture using an arduino and servo, I was hoping to 3D print some of the components as well as use traditional art means. My second idea was simply just to dedicate some time to finishing up the projects that I started last week and figure out how I am going to incorporate them into my curriculum this year. My last idea is to devote the next month documenting the process of setting up my new classroom to be more Maker friendly and set up an actual Maker Space in the back room attached to my classroom. Here are some photos of my old classroom, the constraints of teaching a class in the computer lab were that I do quite a bit of hands on work with my students and there simply was not enough space to do this.
My next door neighbor (the physics teacher) has taken a new job and left at the end of the school year. I took this opportunity to move into his classroom and hopefully set up a Maker Space for my school. With PLP's just around the corner a Maker Space is ideal for our students!! Here is the new space, there is room for computer stations and also work tables in the middle of the room (which were not moved in at the time this picture was taken). As you can see I have a lot of work ahead of me!!
These are pictures of the back room, I'm hoping to move quite a bit of the stuff out so that I can set up work tables and the beginnings of a Maker Space. We have some woodworking equipment which has not been used for years and plenty of tools available so it is an ideal place for a Maker Space. I am planning on purchasing a 3D printer and setting up a computer and 3D printing station in the this space as well.
