This week we started our first phase in establishing a new Maker Space at Rosseau Lake College. After a few months of research and shopping, we wrapped the new toys and let the grades 7, 8 and 11's open them. The excitement of the students was intoxicating. Between the 3D printer, VR headsets, 3D pens, Ollies, Lego, Drones and Cucubelets the students spent 2 hours exploring all the new learning toys. The idea behind buying entertaining toys was to get the students excited about a Maker Space and what it could potentially offer. Just 2 days after the 3D printer was set up, we had students creating their own designs in Tinkercad and Blender. As one administrator said about a student, "It was nice seeing a spark in his eyes, it had been a long time".
Our next phase is to redesign the whole lab, buy mobile storage, purchase building materials and new furniture. As our students progress through their Discovery Day projects, we hope they will see how they can utilize this space to create their prototypes.