♪♪♪
Casey: What I'd love
for you to do. . .
Michael: These sixth-graders
from Willowside Middle
School in Santa Rosa may be
on the most productive field
trip of their fledgling
academic careers.
Some are learning the basics
of coding...others are
creating online designs
that laser cutters and
3- D printers will turn
into real products.
Gitano: I like the
interactive part about
it because I don't just, I
don't like just sitting
at the desk in just
doing my work.
I like hands-on activities
and always doing something.
Jade: Oh, it's so different
and it's cool to do the
hands-on experience.
We watch videos in class
and we do some hands-on
but, like, it's
nothing like this.
Michael: This frenzy of
activity and creativity
isn't taking
place at a school.
This so-called "design
laboratory" is actually
located inside the Sonoma
County Office of Education
headquarters.
It's the brainchild
of Casey Shea...
Coordinator for Maker
Education for the entire
county's school district.
But...what is "making"?
Casey: The shortest
definition of making is
taking an idea that
you have in your head,
and putting it
in your hands,
going through the
process to put it together,
whatever that takes.
Michael: The "maker
movement"...young people
turning their creative
visions into tangible and
often practical or whimsical
objects...is now a worldwide
phenomenon, with over
240 maker fairs
across the globe.
But it began right in Sonoma
County with this man
Dale Dougherty.
The founder of Maker
Media and publisher of Make
magazine wanted to promote
the do-it-yourself mindset
to help students learn
STEAM concepts: science,
technology, English,
art, and math.
A non-traditional approach
to counter old teaching
methods that often didn't
resonate with some students.
Casey: I was a high school
teacher for many years.
So unfortunately, by high
school a lot of the kids,
there's a significant number
of kids who are sort of
turned off to
the whole system.
And we're icing out a
whole generation of kids,
a whole group of students,
who could be the next
innovators and the next
problem solvers
that we need.
Lisa: I absolutely love
coming to the design lab.
It's one - the kids have
told me it's one of their
favorite trips of the year.
Michael: These students are
learning about electricity as
they create their
own LED flashlights.
Their teacher, Lisa Berges,
says what she loves most
about this lab and maker
education is how it inspires
kids who don't necessarily
shine in a
classroom setting.
Lisa: It just
allows freedom,
it's discovery, they go
with their gut and they
test and they iterate,
and they persevere.
Michael: Sonoma County
Schools Superintendent
Steven Herrington became
such an advocate of maker
education that he and
Shea started training
other teachers in 2014.
One year later they joined
with Sonoma State University
to create the first fully
accredited program
in the nation...
honored that same
year by the White House.
Now, teachers come here
from all over the U.S.
to discover how to set
up their own make labs.
Dr. Herrington: There's a
lot of things going for the
make movement, because
teachers realize that
this creates an
environment for creativity,
but it also creates an
environment of success
for learning.
Michael: The design lab's
even proven to be a hit
among those in
special education.
Neal McKenzie, who teaches
visually impaired and blind
students like Ricky, say
they've worked together to
create tactile objects with
readable Braille messages --
like simulated calculators,
computer keyboards
and other objects.
Their designs are being
shared around the world.
Neal: I send my files out
and people download them
all the time, and I see my
things being used in all
other places, and that's a
pretty awesome feeling to
see a kid in Canada using
a thing that I designed.
Ricky: It's very gratifying
just knowing people are
using designs that I
thought of sometimes.
♪♪♪
Michael: For Sonoma county
schools that don't have the
space or resources for
their own maker lab,
the county offers a mobile
lab that comes to them.
(Opens van door)
Michael: Over in
Sacramento, UC Davis
education professor
Lee Martin takes his
mobile lab out to schools
all over the region.
Like in Sonoma County, Lee
wants to provide a
"space of possibility" for
students by filling this van
with tools and materials
to make "stuff."
( Unloading stuff from van)
Michael: Today, at Sacramento's
Met High School,
Lee and these ninth through
twelfth graders are bringing
power tools, a 3-D printer,
even a laser cutter into
teacher Christopher
Chu's chemistry class.
They're all members of
their own "Makers Club."
Lee: One of the things I
love about the maker stuff
is that it's a place
where learning new ideas,
it's really clear how it's
going to enable you to
do new things."
Emily: It's really just
anyone who enjoys inventing
and kind of tinkering and
just working with their
hands to create something.
Chu: One of the things I
think that makes them
really special,
especially this group,
is they like to take risks.
They like to try new things
and they're not afraid to
make mistakes.
Ava: There's just this
feeling of success when
you do something on your own.
You make something and then
you can look back at it in
the future and say,
'I did that.'
Michael: As an avid "maker"
himself, Lee wondered if
transporting a "workshop on
wheels" to underserved
communities would help spark
curiosity and creativity
in young people.
Lee: There are a lot of
signals to young women
and young people of color
that say engineering,
design are not spaces
that are necessairly for you
and that's deeply
problematic.
By creating a space where they
feel that they do fit in
by creating a space where
they can be successful
and with something really
tangible that they can walk
out and say "I made this.'
I think that at least has the
potential to really show
them that there are spaces
that they fit in, belong,
and that their ideas
are valued.
Michael: Establishing
maker programs and
training teachers
can be challenging.
But most educators agree
it can provide a spark
that changes both students'
and teachers' lives.
Gitano: I'd recommend
just trying it,
because it's really fun when
you get to do it and even if
things don't work out, it's
always a good experience.
Steven: Your
students will benefit,
and you will love it because
it's a whole new exploration
of learning for
you as an adult.
Lisa: I would
say, just go for it.
It's a little
scary at first.
But if you allow them
flexibility and you trust
them they
produce great results.
All: Makers
♪♪♪