Johnny Wee is the Subject Head (Design Education) of Ping Yi Secondary School. He is also a pedagogical innovator in the school, who started up his school makerspace and designed its curriculum around students’ interest in aerospace engineering.

Lin Lixun is teaching at Nanyang Primary School. He runs the school’s innovation program, and is also in charge of the school’s makerspace project which takes place over several sites and timeslots, including a successful recess program in the library, and a makerspace CCA.

In Their Own Words

issue 73 jun 2020

Making Way for Makerspace

While it is not a new concept, makerspace has been gaining traction in Singapore schools for the numerous benefits it brings about to students’ learning. Traditional learning tends to be one-way in that students are told what to learn. The makerspace environment, however, values the spirit of collaboration and involves three main elements: tools, people and mindset. Two teacher-advocates of makerspace share with us more about its benefits.

Mr Johnny Wee, Subject Head (Design Education) at Ping Yi Secondary School

Why should teachers consider a makerspace for education?

Makerspaces provide an outlet for students to experiment and explore creatively, beyond the boundaries of timetables and textbooks. Other than allowing students to pursue their own creative interests and ideas, makerspace also provides opportunities for students to co-construct (as an individual or in a team) their understanding of subjects in different ways that can be enriching to both teachers and students. For example, some students can demonstrate the principles of physics through cardboard drag-cars with different wheel sizes and body shapes of their own design, while others can choose to express the same knowledge through the aerobatic movements of a DIY radio-controlled aircraft. Makerspaces allow students to play different roles: the visionary with his flights of fantasy, the scientist with his intellectual curiosity, and the designer with purpose and passion.

What are some tips for implementing a makerspace?

What distinguishes a makerspace from a regular school workshop is the unique culture of experimentation and learning from mistakes. Students should feel encouraged to pursue their own interests and ideas, and teachers should be mindful of building up an atmosphere of intellectual curiosity and sharing. Do not worry about having to “know” everything under the sun as a makerspace teacher, and allow students to explore and learn together. In short, rather than worry about making “failsafe” makerspaces, aim to create an environment that is “safe-to-fail”!

Mr Lin Lixun runs the school’s innovation program at Nanyang Primary School

What is the difference between makerspaces and classrooms?

A makerspace serves to enhance the teaching and learning experience. It provides the resources, tools and physical space that may not be possible and/or available in a conventional classroom. This is particularly so for primary schools which, unlike secondary schools, do not have a Design and Technology workshop. Some of the specialized equipment includes cutting equipment, electronic drills, glue guns, workbenches with clamps, etc. This allows teachers to enrich the Maker experience and provide students with the opportunity for richer and more authentic prototyping (which I do for students’ prototyping solutions for problems identified). The physical configuration of a makerspace may also differ from a conventional classroom, providing spaces that cater to a variety of Maker activities.

What are some of the challenges in implementing makerspace?

All in all, makerspaces can support and enhance teaching and learning if utilised in a purposeful manner. This requires thoughtful planning in designing the curriculum for the purposeful use of the makerspaces. During our initial phase of implementation, we created and bought some resources without deliberation on creating the curriculum to utilise the resources. This led to challenges faced such as under-utilised resources. Therefore, makerspaces can support learning meaningfully only if driven by thoughtful curriculum design and planning.

Every Classroom a Makerspace

Makerspaces in Nanyang Primary School come in two forms. The first is two physical rooms with varying resources and tools to support “High Tech” work – activities of higher complexity that require the specialized tools based in the rooms. Examples of specialized tools are 3D printers, electric drills, workbenches and glue guns.

The second form is mobile carts that can store materials and tools that can be wheeled to any location, transforming any space into a makerspace. The mobile carts support “Low Tech” work – craft work and activities requiring simple tools that can be stored in the mobile carts. This is based on the belief that maker activities should not be confined to a physical space and that varying levels of maker activities can be conducted in any space, supported by the mobile carts. We also have mobile carts that store LEGO We-Do 2.0 sets (10 sets per cart) and LEGO creative sets – enough to support an entire level of classes. This allows students to unleash their creativity using LEGO.

With the mobile carts, students were able to engage in Maker activities like simple craft work to more complex activities like rapid prototyping, in locations such as the classroom. As for the physical rooms, one is a Maker Lab that house the more complex and specialized tools to support “High Tech” activities such as prototyping and other houses the materials to support outreach activities such as Maker activities conducted by student leaders during recess for their peers. The enriched experience provided by the Maker Lab cannot be achievable in a conventional classroom. For example, students had been able to enhance their prototyping for problem-solving by creating authentic prototypes that are workable and thus were better able to explore the challenges of their prototype designs and make critical improvements.