Thanksgiving Point leading makerspaces locally and nationally
Students from the Thanksgiving Point Makerspace program show off their bracelets made with thermo-science.
Lehi students in Debra VanWagoner's Makerspace program pose outside of the Bay Area Maker Faire in May.
The Maker Movement is afoot, and Thanksgiving Point is one of the leading makerspaces locally, and quite possibly nationally.
The Maker Movement is a culture of technology-based do-it-yourselfers who work with electronics, robotics, 3D printing and CNC tools, as well as doing more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking and traditional arts and crafts. The focus is on learning by trying and doing. Since about 2005, offline and online communities of makers have been popping up all over the country.
The Makerspace at The Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point is one of those places, but it is focused on getting kids into the act. Under the direction of Debra VanWagoner, maker coordinator, roughly 80 middle school teens from Lehi are exploring STEM related topics while inventing, designing and making.
“This space is about observing, trying new things, working together, taking risks, and failing,” VanWagoner said. “Failing is pretty fantastic – most people won’t tell you that. And in a school situation, failing is bad. But not here. If you don’t fail often, you’re not succeeding.”
In her after-school classes, 13- and 14-year-olds are designing and creating lighted chess boards, wood and PVC pipe microscopes, graphic novels they’ll share at the Salt Lake City Comic Con, and even working on nanotechnology. The students recently used their hands-on study of chemistry and plastics to create customizable bracelets.
Those bracelets got them noticed at the California Bay Area Maker Faire in May. VanWagoner and eight students from the program had only planned a field trip to the faire to observe and learn from the other makers there, but the buzz around the students’ work and Thanksgiving Point Maker program got them noticed by faire organizers. The group was asked to be presenters at the faire.
“We went first, and the faire organizers told us that usually isn’t a good time slot. But our presentation was sold out. The organizers were amazed,” VanWagoner said. “There we were, and the kids were teaching others about thermo-plastics and thermo-science.”
They made such a great impression that VanWagoner was invited to present about her program at the Washington D.C. Maker Faire in early June. VanWagoner trained other Makers on the students’ project, which was heating, and manipulating thermoplastics for costume design.
VanWagoner’s students have also been invited to present at the New York City World Maker Faire in September. Grant money got them to the first two faires, but they don’t have the funds to get to the World Faire.
“We’re writing grants as fast as we can,” said Lorie Millward, the Museum’s curator of curiosity. “We’re trying to rustle up funds to get at least a few of the kids there.”
Aside from all the accolades, VanWagoner and Millward are the most excited about the change they are seeing in the students. When the program first started last year, they recruited at-risk, underserved students – students who have at-home struggles, or learning disabilities, and social or autistic disabilities. They even made sure that 50 percent of the students were girls – a high percentage for STEM programs.
Among the many individual success stories VanWagoner excitedly shared, she told of one student, Gabe, who was very socially introverted and didn’t participate at the beginning, preferring to work alone on projects.
“He told me, ‘I don’t know if I’m smart enough.’ He started off in the corner, then moved closer, and now he’s a lead on one of the projects,” VanWagoner said.
Gabe’s mother saw VanWagoner in a shop one day recently and told her how much Gabe has improved just since being in the Makerspace program. At school his grades were up, he’s interacting with other students regularly.
“We’re changing these kids’ attitudes about school, but most importantly, we’re changing these families,” VanWagoner said.
Millward, who attended the Utah STEM Action Center’s STEM Best Practices Conference this week, said the Thanksgiving Point Makerspace program supports Utah’s recent push for stronger science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. She hopes to expand the program they have at Thanksgiving Point, but also wants to work with area schools and libraries to create Makerspaces within their own buildings. In the fall, she is starting outreach programs for middle schools throughout the state.
“The great thing is we’ve allowed kids a space to explore what their interested in and the tools to do it. From a hammer to a 3D printer, they are trained on all of it. What the kids are finding is, subjects aren’t just go to math class, go to science class – here they have to mesh science and math and design together. All these skills aren’t separated here,” Millward said.
