Creative learning at the LRC is alive and well. This week students had the opportunity to construct light-up Christmas cards by building paper circuits, which use paper, copper tape, battery packs and LED lights.
This is one of several Christmas-themed activities brought to our students by way of the LRC Makerspace.
A big thanks to our team of librarians for all of the exciting projects they have run for our students.
The LRC will be presenting a session on STEAM in the LRC, today at the 2017 Makerspace conference. This is the link to register, as well as access the schedule of powerful PD sessions for the event. Do consider joining us to learn how we make the most of free and low cost, accessible resources in mobile maker spaces, in lessons in clubs as well as outside of lessons. The session will be in Spanish and recordings will be available shortly after.
This year has been a year of transition for the LRC. Not only have we created a 3 tier maker system of drop ins, an extra curricular club, and making in our ICT PBL units, but we are about to launch our ver first STEAM Fest on Wednesday 16th of March.
This whole school event will be partnered with both Primary and Secondary Science Fairs, as well as Brain Awareness Week. It will provide a venue, not only for our school community, but for other schools and organisations around the country, at which to promote educational development and student innovation through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts and Mathematics) projects.
STEAM as an educational approach, focuses on the whole child, through inquiry, problem solving, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration using Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths. STEAM focuses on the learning process and provides students with learning opportunities to investigate, plan, and develop meaningful open ended projects.
STEAM Fest will provide opportunities throughout the day for students to participate in creative activity centres, view expositions and interact with presenters. Please visit our STEAM Fest Site to learn more.
We have been using the 3doodler pen for the last few months with our 8th grade classes as well as in the Maker Club after school each week.
The 3Doodler Pen is a cost efficient tool that works wonders at inspiring students to design and create.
Some of the students have enjoyed it so much that they have brought a friend or two along to the club, and are coming everyday after school to work on their own projects.
It is fair to say that these kids are an inspiration to others. They have found something they love, are spreading the word to others and are creating projects of their own design.
Here are a some additional pictures of the work done by the Maker Club students (left) as well as the 3D Glasses created in ICT lessons (below).
If you look closely enough you will see that there are two different styles, depending on the template they chose to work with. On the left we have Harry Potter Glasses and on the right Hipster Glasses.
Makerspaces offer engaging hands-on creative opportunities for learners to experiment and develop their skills in STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics through student centred, student driven project, embedded within the curriculum, through drop in sessions and as after school clubs in Learning Resources Centres, libraries and classrooms.
Makerspaces come in a variety of shapes, sizes and are are multipurpose in design. While some are high tech others rely on relatively little technology. They lend themselves perfectly for teaching and learning STEAM skills and concepts. They are places where learners can go to think critically and creatively, plan and experiment, where they have access to tools, materials and resources, where they direct their learning and become inventors and innovators. Makerspaces can include resources and spaces for electronics, programming and robotics, arts and crafts, woodworking, sewing, gardening and more. They are flexible spaces, often comprised of multiple venues, with plenty of storage and work surfaces, mobile and/or fixed.
We happened upon this learning trend through a discussion with an ex student who is directly involved in the planning and implementation of makerspaces in schools, and immediately recognised the potential makerspace and steam learning offered our students and teachers. This was a way forward for our school. This was just over a year ago. Since then we have been exploring our options, collecting resources, attending sessions on makerspaces, developing a plan and putting it into action.
Since this time we have developed a tiered system of drop-in, clubs and curriculum based maker activities, developed resource banks, identified and equipped different areas of the LRC with materials and storage and identified areas of the curriculum both academic and extra curricular in which . Through our makerspace initiatives our students and staff members participate in the active acquisition of important skills through critical thinking, exploration and creative invention. They make connections and build upon their learning experiences, both in school and in their personal lives.
We measure our success not only by the acquisition of new skills and concepts, but also by the levels of excitement, initiative and student engagement we have observed so far, as we blast through traditional subject barriers, and take huge leaps into dynamic student lead creative experiences.
Here are a few more examples of student work so far. We look forward to sharing more on this topic in the near future.
Welcome back to a new and exciting school year. There are many changes taking place in the LRC in 15/16. I would like to take this opportunity to share some of the bigger changes with you.
Our first big change is the implementation of our new library system, Destiny by Follett.
This system provides students with a personal portal which will enable them to truly customise their library experiences.
We also have a large collection of new books both in hard copy along with a collection audio books by Amazon Audible. Students will be able to check out shortly.
While not new this year, our digital collection with Follett TumbleBookCloud is a great resource. We purchased the subscription last school year, which is updated and added to by Follett.
This service allows students to choose from hundreds of books including graphic novels, enhanced novels, ebooks, classic literature, national geographic videos, educator resources as well as audiobooks.
Students can access their Destiny and TumbleBookCloud options on the LRC website. Each class will also be given an orientation session on using Destiny, in tutor time, during the next few weeks.
The new Maker Space has been assigned a spot toward the back of the LRC by the Studio and Raspberry Pi computers. We are very excited about its launch, which will take place this Monday with our first drop in activity along and will run parallel to the launch of the new Maker Club.
Students can sign up for the club and they can also come along at breaks, or after school each week to take part in other activities. During the first activity, Binary Bracelets, students will learn a bit about the language of computers while making a personal chain or bracelet in binary.
Maker Space activities have even worked their way into 8th grade ICT Creative Carousels in the LRC. The students had their first lesson last week in which they began learning about tools, and used them to deconstruct old desktop computers.
Here are a few pictures from the lesson.
It is going to be a fantastic SY15/16 at the LRC. Do check back for regular updates!
The LRC will be presenting a session on STEAM in the LRC, today at the 2017 Makerspace conference. 
Here are a some additional pictures of the work done by the Maker Club students (left) as well as the 3D Glasses created in ICT lessons (below).
We happened upon this learning trend through a discussion with an ex student who is directly involved in the planning and implementation of makerspaces in schools, and immediately recognised the potential makerspace and steam learning offered our students and teachers. This was a way forward for our school. This was just over a year ago. Since then we have been exploring our options, collecting resources, attending sessions on makerspaces, developing a plan and putting it into action.
