Welcome back to our ongoing series highlighting “What’s Happening” at our Maker VISTA sites. Each blog will quickly introduce what our subsites have been up to during the past month, and include a link for more information.
Maker VISTA is dedicated to eradicating poverty and supports Maker Ed’s mission to create more opportunities for all young people to develop confidence, creativity, and interest in science, technology, engineering, math, art, and learning as a whole through making. Members develop the capacity of subsites by building infrastructure, expanding partnerships, securing resources, organizing maker education training, and linking communities to the maker movement.
To learn more about the Maker VISTA Project, click here.
To learn more our Maker VISTA Members, click here.
San Fernando Middle School’s VISTA member, Matt Moor, attended Barnes and Noble’s Mini Maker Faire in Burbank, CA, on November 7th and 8th. His visit provided new insight into Maker Education as he was introduced to color sensing robots, learned how geometry can improve one’s artistry, and listened to a discussion on creativity by Margaret Kerry, who is known as the original Tinker Bell. This inspiration influenced a new partnership with Hackerspace LA, which will focus on expansion of making opportunities for the community-at-large. Additionally, fellow Maker VISTA member Kira Watson, teamed up with Matt to explore a potential partnership with the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering.
Maker VISTA members Tobie Irvine and Cissy Monroe have continued their efforts to build capacity for Maker Education at Lighthouse Community Charter School. VISTA member Tobie developed a Case of Support, which will serve as an informative backbone for current and future grant applications. VISTA member Cissy collaborated with Lighthouse teachers to track and document their projects integrating Maker Education as an approach for curriculum and instruction. In addition, she has established a working draft for a planning template to aid teachers in project development.
The Maker Space at La Escuelita Elementary has been renamed La Maker Space and officially welcomed new Maker Space Manager, Rei Jackler. In addition to its expansion of dedicated staff to support Maker Education for La Escuelita students, VISTA member Eric Pirmann is helping La Maker Space evolve its curriculum (stay tuned!). You can follow all current happenings at the new website, which is being developed by Eric.
At Bethune Middle School Maker Studio, VISTA member Kira Watson helped launch the USC Sea Grant Parent and Child Education program. Through a partnership with the USC Sea Grant Program and Wrigley Institute, Bethune Parent-Child teams will become learning teams to explore the wonderful world of marine sciences in a course that covers environmental issues as well as social responsibility, personal communication skills and self-esteem These exciting courses will continue weekly through June 2016. Learn more here.
Charlotte Lab’s Maker VISTA members, Brittany and Colby have been busy recruiting volunteers. As of this month they have recruited 31 volunteers for their goal of 100 volunteers. Volunteers from the community build upon and further develop the initiatives undertaken by VISTA members, which aids sustainability as members serve for one year. In addition to volunteer recruitment, Brittany and Colby have established partnerships with a local technology company to aid programming and computer science curriculum development, and with Makerspace Charlotte for enriching after-school programming.
At Ravenswood Makerspace Collaborative, Maker VISTA member Victor Aw and Montana Manalo have been forming a team of local tech professionals to help guide and supervise students in RCSD Makerspaces. The new volunteers participated in a Maker Education orientation and introduction designed and led by Victor and Montana, which will prepare them for play and experimentation with elementary and middle school-age students.
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