The holiday season is a perfect introduction to maker space. Family experiences for me have always centered around hot glue, scissors, and the occasional power tool. I was reminded of these memories while reading the blog A Principal’s Reflections by Eric Sheninger. In his most recent post, “Making is in Our DNA”, Eric speaks about memories with his grandfathers centered around making. These are the moments we remember. The constructionist education movement spoke to the importance of learning by doing. Students, or adults, create their own knowledge by engaging in meaningful tasks. The modern-day maker movement encapsulates this idea by incorporating the constructivist theories and blending them with modern day technologies as the students progress.
When my abuela met her second husband he was already retired. Grandpa George, a former construction company owner, was spending his retirement collecting antiques and refurbishing them to display or resell. I would go to visit for weeks at a time over the holidays. I learned how to buy broken antique jewelry, cut it down, and remake it into new pieces. We would go into his workshop and build. Whether making is in our DNA or not I cannot tell you. However, making is definitely the way we learn best. To this day, I can go into a vintage store and pick up a broken piece of jewelry, buy it for a discount, and take it home to fix. I learned by doing.
I made this shelf with Grandpa George when I was in middle school. It is still in my apartment today.
Grandpa George passed on his skills to me over the holidays each year. Every family has their own maker skill. Whether you want to share your love of baking bread, building a proportional snowman, or design ornaments. The maker spirit is in the air.
If you are feeling blocked, consider going to GingerBread Lane at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) . The GingerBread Lane holds the Guinness World Record for largest gingerbread village. While you are at the museum, check out the Design Lab at NYSCI to continue your maker experience. Both exhibits are included with admission.
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