We pulled up to a building, which looked like a storefront from the outside. As we entered, anxiety set in—at least for me. The inside had a factory aesthetic, with old furniture strewn about and folding tables arranged in the center of the room. One of our mantras is “anywhere can be a makerspace,” so I started repeating those words in my mind but it didn’t help, I was distressed. Then I looked around the room and realized that my students had a different view. They saw endless possibilities.
“This shelf can be where we keep the bolts of fabric,” one called. “Here are some outlets for the hot glue guns,” another shouted. “Sphero soccer can be in the middle of the room—but how can we build walls so the Spheros don’t go all over the place?” another asked his peers about the game he had designed specifically for the event, complete with a bracket.
Immediately, my…
