In the spring of 2021, the 6th grade science teacher and I began forming a plan. She had seen the engagement of 6th graders in our afterschool Maker Days program and wanted to find a way to bring that into her classroom so that ALL of our 6th graders could have this opportunity. We applied … Read more
You can’t design a library space and program that meets the needs of your teachers and students if you don’t know what those needs are. It’s hard to develop an effective library collection if you have no idea what genres and books your students want to read. Using surveys with your teachers and students can … Read more
Good signage is vital in a learning space. Ideally, your students should be able to walk into your space, look around, and find the things that they need without having to ask for help. Realistically, I know that this isn’t usually what happens, but it’s the goal to aim for. In general, I would say … Read more
Read This Book: The Design of Childhood I first heard about The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids in a NPR interview with the author. It immediately piqued my interest. Design, education and learning spaces are some of my favorite subjects. Bringing them all together in one book sounds amazing. And … Read more
The Four C’s are big in education right now: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication. We talk constantly about how we need to be teaching our students these skills. I’m not always a big fan of buzzwords – even though I’ve only been in education for less than a decade, I realize that they come … Read more
Educational environments have been stuck for far too long. For decades, we have settled for beige concrete boxes. Little natural sunlight and fresh air. Desks arranged in rows because it makes for the most efficient cleaning, rather than asking what makes for the most productive learning environment. Our libraries are boxes with walls lined with … Read more
(Post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using them, I get a small commission that helps support running this blog) Just create something. Everyday. I love to read books about creativity and the artist’s process. It’s fascinating to learn the stories of authors, artists and other creatives and learn about their how they create … Read more
While I’ve never worked in an elementary school before, I’m always on the lookout for awesome maker picture books. Picture books are a great way to introduce a lesson or activity in makerspaces. We even have a whole chart on maker picture book connections in Challenge Based Learning (check out the resources page to see … Read more
When educators and designers get together to write a book on learning spaces, amazing things happen. Many books on learning space design focus on lots of gorgeous photos of expensively renovated school environments, language to use with architects or projects that are amazing, but not always easy to replicate. The Space takes a different approach. … Read more
Design challenges are powerful ways to engage students in making (that’s why I co-wrote a book about them). Sometimes, I craft the design challenges myself. But other times, I go to my students and ask them to create their own design challenges. This one was one of those, and I think it was brilliant: The … Read more