Bloom's Day

Completely random thoughts about a wide array of subjects

Lasers, 3-D Printers, And Robots: The New Shop Class | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

smarterplanet:

DARPA is funding the creation of 1,000 Makerspaces in high schools across the country to get American kids interested in making things again.

“We have to move from an engine of bureaucracy to an engine of innovation,” said Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter, announcing this week that at least 1,000 high schools around the country will be opening up Makerspaces over the next four years.

What is a Makerspace, you ask? “It’s a place where you get to do things,” Dale Dougherty, founder of O’Reilly Media’s Make magazine and creator of Maker Faire, told Co.Exist. “I think it’s sort of a mashup of a shop class, a computer lab, an art class, and maybe a bio lab.”

It’s sort of a mashup of a shop class, a computer lab, an art class, and maybe a bio lab.

The national Makerspace project is the brainchild of Dougherty and Saul Griffith, many-tentacled inventor and founder of Squid Labs, Instructables, and Howtoons, and is sponsored by a grant from DARPA MENTOR, the defense department’s research arm related to advancing manufacturing and reviving the nation’s strategic interest in making things; the organization is already sponsoring Makerspaces for adults, so this is a logical extension. There’s some pretty heavy national goals riding on this initiative: getting American kids excited about science, math and technology again and fostering a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. “I feel we’re at this point in time where people are looking for some substantial change in education,” says Dale. “And I want to be that new thing.”

I totally love this concept. I was more art student than shop class guy, but grew up with a carpenter grandfather who could do everything needed to build a house and an orthodontist grandfather who used tiny tools to create all kinds of things for his young patients.

So, I get the value of making things, of all kinds, and the importance of providing creative young minds the tools that make that possible. Who knows how long it may be before any of these labs pays off, but getting all kinds of creative tools in the right place is a really good idea. Bravo for this smart investment. 

8 months ago
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