AlphaPlus Educator Network Makerspaces

Makerspaces are zones of self-directed learning. Their hands-on character, coupled with the tools and raw materials that support invention, provide the ultimate workshop for the tinkerer and the perfect educational space for individuals who like to learn by doing. 

The Wayfinders Motto

In makerspaces, experiments that do not go as planned become learning experiences.

A maker space is  “a collision of art, technology, learning, and collaboration.”

A maker space is not only a place where you can make stuff--it is a place where you make meaning that can be just as important as the stuff you make.

Makerism is a culture of creation over consumption.

Educators use maker spaces to promote hands-on learning and to foster creativity. 

Maker spaces stimulate curiosity and imagination in an informal, playful, atmosphere where multi-disciplinary learning, inquiry, risk-taking, thinking, crafting, tinkering, and wondering can flourish.

It’s ... the maker mindset of creating something out of nothing and exploring your own interests that’s at the core of a makerspace.  These spaces are also helping to prepare those who need the critical 21st century skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

We hope that the things the AlphaPlus Wayfinders create will inspire other educators as they explore, experiment and become Wayfinders themselves.

Experience a makerspace at AlphaPlus – explore the makerspace concept and see whether it is something you’d like to incorporate into your practice

Our maker space is a distance version of a maker space – we are not providing a space with equipment but we can support the Wayfinders in acquiring equipment.

Makerspace participants are active creators.

Makerspaces give us an opportunity to

Other capacities that makerspace participants may call upon or develop can include: