Published On: July 21st, 2016|

NPR – Eric Westervelt

“Take a look this summer inside some of America’s garages, museums and libraries and you’ll see that the “Maker Movement” is thriving. This hands-on, DIY culture of inventors, tinkerers and hackers is inspiring adults and children alike to design and build everything from sailboats and apps to solar cars. And this fall, more of these chaotic workspaces, stocked with glue guns, drills and hammers — will be popping up in schools, too. But the Maker Movement faces some big hurdles as it pushes into classrooms. Here’s the first big one: Schools “are not thinking about it as an instructional tool,” says Chris O’Brien, a former teacher who helps schools create maker and project-based learning spaces in New York City. He says schools make a big mistake if these programs are merely a popular elective with the hip teacher, or the place to go after school to play with wood, cloth or a 3-D printer.”(more)