Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects

Step-by-Step Projects and Resources for Grades 3-6

Julie Darling

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000503333
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects is chock-full of meaningful projects that educators can use to teach social-emotional skills in grades 3-6.

The projects show students how to create a digital calming room, prototype an inclusive playground, and make recycled cards with paper circuits to spread kindness. They also teach young makers how to focus on self-regulation and self-care, engage in community outreach by helping struggling families, and tell their own stories using podcasting and green screening. In addition, the book provides teachers with helpful strategies for scaffolding passion projects, funding a makerspace, and tips for building community and celebrating diversity.

With the engaging ideas in this book, educators will be able to help their students build direct connections to social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making, self-management, and self-awareness (CASEL's SEL Framework).

Chapter 1 Use Cardboard to Build Community

DOI: 10.4324/9781003238072-1

Makerspace activities build community. Being part of a community is important for wellbeing and gives your makers the chance to practice Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills related to Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Building, and Responsible Decision-Making.

The projects in this chapter were chosen because they are inclusive, fun, and can be utilized with any age group. When working with makerspace, just like in any classroom, community building is where you should always start. Safety should also be at the forefront. In addition to projects using cardboard, this chapter discusses establishing safety rules, and provides an overview of different cardboard cutting tools, why you would use one over another, and what they are best for.

Projects, Activities, and Resources Included in This Chapter

• ♦ Activity 1: Establishing Safety Rules
• ♦ Handout: General Makerspace Safety Rules
• ♦ Handout: Stop - Breathe - Look and Think
• ♦ Handout: Tips for Using Makedo Tools
• ♦ Project 1: Make Giant Dice for a Gaming Night
• ♦ Project 2: Host a Cardboard Challenge
• ♦ Reproducible: Our Makerspace Is Hosting a Cardboard Challenge!
• ♦ Handout: Cardboard Challenge Reflection

Safety Considerations

Activity 1: Establishing Safety Rules

Estimated time: 30-60 minutes (time varies depending upon if you choose to develop your own or adopt established rules).

Learning objectives:

• ♦ By the end of this lesson, students will understand, and know how to demonstrate, basic safety considerations needed when working with makerspace tools.
• ♦ Students will create and/or adopt a list of safety rules to be used when working with makerspace tools.

Social-Emotional Skills:

Responsible Decision-Making (CASEL's SEL Framework):

• ♦ Thinking through the steps needed to complete a project.
• ♦ Considering and practicing using tools safely.

Self-Management (CASEL's SEL Framework):

• ♦ Making good choices when using tools.
• ♦ Regulating impulses.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

What You'll Need

• ♦ One of each of the tools you'll be using in your makerspace activities, for demonstrative purposes.
• ♦ Copies for all students of the Stop - Breathe - Look and Think Handout, with a few extra copies to post near work stations.
• ♦ Copies for all students of the General Makerspace Safety Rules, computers, tablets, or paper and pencil if you're planning on developing your safety rules together. Safety rules should also be posted near work stations.

Keeping kids safe around sharp and hot tools is a critical part of managing a makerspace. Focusing on Self-Management and Responsible Decision-Making from the start helps kids to self-monitor around these tools. Just as many educators work with students to create classroom rules at the start of the year, it's a great idea to get your makers involved in creating safety rules before introducing your makerspace. This also gives them ownership. When kids feel ownership, they're much more likely to follow the rules. You'll want to add any important safety rules that they don't think of on their own. Use the General Makerspace Safety Rules as a guide.

Alternately, if you're strapped for time, you can simply adopt the General Makerspace Safety Rules, talk your kids through each of these established rules, and point out the ways in which they apply to your tools, in your space.

Step 2: Consult Manufacturer-Provided Safety Guides

Make sure to consult and follow any manufacturer-provided safety guides, before you or your kids decide on any rules or start operating any tools. You'll want to read through these before establishing your safety rules.

Step 3 (Optional): Create Safety Rules Together

If you'd prefer to create your own rules, help students brainstorm some general ideas (you'll need to allow extra time for this).

Here are some questions you can ask, to get them going:

• ♦ What should we watch out for when using this tool?
• ♦ What can you do to keep from getting poked by this sharp end?
• ♦ How much space do we need to work with this tool safely?
• ♦ What should you do if you see someone making an unsafe choice?
• ♦ What should you do if you or a friend gets hurt?

Thinking through these questions helps students develop skills related to Responsible Decision-Making ("The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions . . . [including safety concerns]" from CASEL's SEL Framework), Determining which rules are the collective best also aids Relationship Skills ("communicating effectively" "practicing teamwork and collaborative problem-solving").

Write down your makers' answers and collectively decide on rules to use to stay safe in makerspace. Add anything important from the manufacturer-provided safety guides, and your own experiences, which may have been missed.

Step 4: Post Your Safety Rules

Type up (if applicable) and post the safety rules in visible places around where your makers will be working.

Step 5: Make a Plan for Unsafe Choices

Make sure you have a plan for what you will do if your kids make unsafe choices. This can be a teacher decision, or something you come up with as a class. Obviously consequences will depend upon the severity of the unsafe choice. Will they simply need to be redirected? Will they lose the use of that tool for the day? Will they need to work on a non-makerspace activity?

If it's more than one maker using a tool in an unsafe way, you may need to always supervise the use of that tool, or revisit with the whole group how to use it safely Perhaps it lives on your desk, and makers can only use it when you're watching them. It may also become a teacher-use-only tool where you help them with that particular tool, when they need it for their project.

Handout: General Makerspace Safety Rules

• Always follow instructions carefully If you don't understand something - ask!
• Wait to touch tools/equipment until instructed to do so.
• Only use tools that you have been trained to use safely.
• Report any accident or injury to the instructor immediately, even a papercut.
• Know where the Band-Aids and the first aid kits are.
• Always wear protective gear when needed. For example, wear safety goggles when using a hammer or a saw.
• Always clean up any messes you make.
• Make sure all equipment is unplugged, and put away, before leaving.
• If you use anything hot, leave it in the spot reserved for hot items.
• When you are in the makerspace, wear closed-toe shoes.
• If you have long hair, make sure to tie it back.

Step 6: Teach Self-Management and Responsible Decision-Making with Stop - Breathe - Look and Think

Place one each of a good representation of tools that you plan to use in your makerspace, on a table or desk in front of you (where it can be viewed by all of your makers). Ask kids to think about how they usually approach using a tool. Do they often just grab it and start working with it, or do they reflect on the best, and safest, way to use that tool? Ask for a show of hands as to which they usually do. Emphasize that a lot of people - adults too - just grab a tool and start working with it. Follow up by telling them that doing it this way causes more accidents, which is why we're going to learn a better way.

Tell them that in order to remember how to use the tools safely we will start our sessions with the Stop - Breathe - Look and Think activity. Ask them to think about one of the tools in front of you for this activity Walk them through the steps in the Stop - Breathe - Look and Think handout. The first part of this handout models Self-Management. The latter part of this handout helps reinforce Responsible Decision-Making by having kids predict a safety issue that could impact themselves or others and asks them to problem-solve beforehand.

Ask a few of the students to share which tool they were thinking about, and walk them through their answers from the Stop - Breathe - Look and Think handout. Next, have them pair and share (turn to a partner and share) their thinking. Post copies of this handout in visible places near where your makers will be working.

Handout: Stop - Breathe - Look and Think

Before you start working with any tool:

1. Stop and take a deep breath.

Close your eyes (as long as that's comfortable, otherwise you can just take a nice deep breath with your eyes open).

• 2. Take a moment to think through the steps for how to use that tool safely. If you can't remember these steps, ask.
• 3. Open your eyes and look around your space.
• 4. Ask yourself these questions:
  • Do you have enough space to safely use this tool? If not, how can you solve that problem?
  • What do you need to be careful about in this space to keep yourself and others safe? For example, is there a cord that could be tripped over? If so, pay attention and make sure to warn anyone who might trip over the cord.

Step 7 (Optional): Act It Out

If you're working with a group that seems to be having trouble with these SEL skills (specifically Self-Management and Responsible Decision-Making), have them perform some skits. Pair students up, tell them which tool they're assigned, and give them the directive of making a safe, or an unsafe, choice. Emphasize that if they have the unsafe scenario, they aren't actually going to demonstrate it; they will instead talk through the unsafe choice that was made.

Call them up, one group at a time, and have them act out the scenario. Don't tell the audience, in advance, if they are acting out the safe or unsafe choice. Pause after each demonstration and ask the audience for a show of hands as to whether that was a safe, or an unsafe, choice. Reveal which one it was. Brainstorm with the group about how to make safer choices. Repeat until all tools have been demonstrated. You'll need to allow extra time for this activity.

Cardboard Construction Tools: Canary, Makedo, and Skil

Cardboard can be used for a variety of maker activities for kids of all ages. Once you have a nice stash of cardboard, you will need some tools to cut it. Here are some tool options with tips on how to teach younger kids how to use them, and why you might choose one over another. In my fifth and sixth grade makerspace we have all of these tools (something you might also consider).

Makedo Tools

Makedo tools are my favorite to use with big groups of younger makers. Unlike with X-Acto knives, or even scissors, it's almost impossible to hurt yourself using Makedo tools. I've had hundreds of kids use them during our participation in the Global Cardboard Challenge (more on that later). The worst injury that they've ever gotten was the equivalent of a...