Beyond School Bells
Think Make Create Labs provide rural after-school programs a “makerspace” where kids take on design challenges to increase STEM knowledge and develop creativity and critical thinking.
In the largely rural state of Nebraska, what does it look like to expand opportunity for kids?
It may look like a car pulling a trailer down the highway.
Twenty-five 6-by-11-foot trailers are on the road carrying bins of materials, circuits, LED lights, battery-operated gizmos and reams of cardboard.
Known as Think, Make, Create Labs, the trailers are used by public school districts and nonprofits for after-school exploration.
“We saw it as an early on-ramp to get young people thinking about themselves as creative problem-solvers in Nebraska,” said Jason Weseman, maker space coordinator for Grand Island Public Schools, Grand Island, Neb., in a video for the nonprofit I Love…
