LIBRARY UPDATE: “Week 1 – #MakerMonday”

We set out on an unknown adventure on Monday when we started a six week program that would take students through the Design Process. We’re still unsure of our final destination, but Monday did bring some clarity to that overall goal. I tasked the students with learning how to ASK defining questions about their world. We began with a simple game of 20 questions as an ice breaker to trying to identify an object of my choosing within eyesight. With each time we played or asked, the students got better at narrowing down where or what the object was.

To refrain from being stale we moved on to a second activity I had set up in the Children’s Section. The students gazed upon what could be a crime scene. They had to use to phrases in which to identify what they saw, “I notice” or “I wonder”. From this they developed deeper investigative skills about asking defining questions. I was very impressed with the ability to observe and infer aspects of this complicated scene.

Lastly was the hard part. How does one transition from in your face entertaining activities and games, to applying asking questions about your own life, the community you live in and making that leap? We tried a few different solutions to this problem to which we finally found a way to communicate what we were desiring from the students. We wanted them to come up with a self driven problem they wanted to solve. Stay tuned for more on that and how it develops.

Next week we’ll move into the second phase of the Design Process by going through the IMAGINE section, in which we develop possible solutions to this problem we’ve identified. It’s still not to late to join in and we’re always looking for some more High Schoolers to actively participate in this life lesson process.

Join us for #MakerMondays at 11am-12pm where we do some short activities to engage you in the phase we’re talking about and then apply it to the real world.

Checkout some highlights from Week 1 below