My search of the Creative Commons left me short on inspiration, so a general search led me to a blog post by Lindsay Own. In her tour of their makerspace at the Evergreen School in Shoreline, WA, I was most impressed by their 'Wall of Joy'. Here is some of what she said:
We recently reorganized and color-coded the Wall Of Joy. When students were looking for or putting away items, we used to need to say things like “the scissors belong over there on the left, near the sewing machine. No, not that far. Down a little bit.” Now, we can simply say “yellow section!” Even only a few days into this reorganization, searching is easier. There’s also now no question of which items students may not access without asking.
In the redesign of our library, my intention was to make STEAM resources readily available to students by placing this in reach and using bins to create resource kits that would entice students to explore. Here is the link to my original plan, and the image is below:
Own's 'Wall of Joy' wouldn't fit into our library, but the concept does apply to the areas I've highlighted in yellow. Resources could be set up and located in zones within the library, and colour-coded bins could be used to organize resources and make them easy to find, access and put away.
This isn't a significant transformation of the space, but it does address efficiency and promote curiousity. It also builds on the image of an organized library that makes it easy to find and use stuff.
Update: With organization and thanks to my colleagues in mind, I have a few ideas to consider as I work on the display of the resources in my library. Visually, the display matters because it makes it easier to find things and it communicates to patrons. Showing what is inside, whether through a clear bin or presenting the contents visually, makes resources more accessible. For some items, it would be great to have a work table with tools on permanent display for quick use.
As I move forward, I am trying to fix the old adage 'Out of sight; out of mind' and my approach to engaging students in these STEAM activities will be 'In sight, in mind, and in hands'.
Karen
ReplyDeleteI always love ideas that give the students more agency. This is a great idea. Putting up a pegboard wall might also be a good idea.
Would you build in time for cleaning up?
Hi Karen! The pegboard wall is a great idea, and I've considered something like that for small tool management for our library projects. It is great to have a small space for some of those spontaneous personal projects like gluing shoes, fixing glasses, or repairing knapsacks. Thanks for the input! -jw
DeleteCurtis
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of maker resources!
As our makerspace has been gaining momentum and seeing more use I keep worrying that it is going to slowly descend into a messy pile of pipe cleaners and chunks of cardboard. So far so good though, teachers are leaving lots of time for clean up, and although not quite as systematic as the example you found the organization of materials was partially done by student so it seems to work well with students brains. One of the best ideas was to attach an item to the outside of the bin or drawer representing whats in there - glue gun glued to the outside of the glue gun drawer (no reading required).
Hey Curtis! Thanks for the feedback and the great suggestions. The 'wall of joy' serves a spacious makerspace facility with three separate zones. It is quite a capable complex and worth a look using the link in my original post. Your students' idea to glue objects to the outside of the bin is a great way to keep your resources accessible, in all the senses of that word. That is what drew me to the colour-coded system used at the Evergreen school. Thanks again for the suggestion. -jw
Delete