A Makerspace Skeptic Finally Gets It

I found the idea and bulk of this project by Googling MakerSpace and Revolutions Projects. With much scrolling and linking I came to this student made web page and thought, "What a great idea." Further investigation eventually led me here, perhaps the genesis of the project. Seven years separate these two posts and I have no thread to connect the two. But if Anke al-Bataioriginally developed this project, I am very much in her debt.

I admit to (like Jennifer Gonzalez) not quite understanding the MakerSpace phenomenon. For awhile, it totally seemed like every school near me was racing to build one. I thought it a fad and to some degree I still think that way. My biggest criticism has been that the learning for some projects I've seen has seemingly ended far before the end of the project.  But I'm a reformed skeptic. 

I am so impressed by the thinking going on because this project. Makerspace director, Michael Darfler, has been an enormous help in helping the kids and me iterate this project. Thanks too to Dave Thomas for helping the kids with the many tools in the MakerSpace. The depth of student thinking going on in this project has only increased since they've started. I've discovered a couple of things. 1) A good makerspace project takes time. 2) Creative thinking needs to be connected to content at depth. I'm convinced that students are learning key concepts about revolutions at a deeper level because of the project.  Here are some pictures of the kids at work. 

The questions they are asking about content are frequent, intelligent and sometimes even profound. I'll long remember some of the "aha" moments I've seen because of these projects. Having to compare and contrast revolutions and present that learning visually through a physical metaphor has provoked some of the best thinking I've seen all year in a class of very impressive thinkers. 

Projects are due this Thursday. I'll share them. 

Timeline Tools

Understanding chronology, knowing when events occurred and putting them in proper sequence is an essential skill for understanding history. 

For several years, I've recommended without reservation Knightlab's storytelling tools, and among them this Timeline tool. When it no longer worked for much of April I was sad to see it go and I started looking for other timeline creators to replace it. Good News! I found a new tool I really like, Even more good news! Knightlab and Google Sheets are now playing nicely together again and so Timeline by Knightlab now works. So, dear reader, here are two web-based timeline creation tools I recommend.

Here's an example of a sample I made for a colleague's class using Knightlab's Timeline.



The other tool, TimeMapper, also works in conjunction with Google and is built using Google Sheets. Here's an example: Both of these tools take some time. But the finished projects look fantastic. I've used Knightlab's Timeline tool in my teaching. In looking for a replacement, I've come across TimeMapper. I look forward to trying it with my students as well.

Ideas Matter