Making Use Of The Makerspace

Many schools have created spaces in their buildings for a Makerspace and Brentwood is no exception. The idea of the Makerspace is a place for students to imagine, design and create. This can be related to a school assignment or simply a place to ‘tinker’. In September of 2016, we opened the space used for woodworking and 3D sculpture in the academic morning in order for teachers to expand the possibilities for students. Our students are now creating in the Makerspace for a variety of purposes using the 3D printers, saws, wood burning tools, cardboard, clay, paints, PVC piping, drills, fabric, glue guns, screwdrivers, etc.:

Personal pieces to create a group totem in Grade 9, linked to their October trip to Strathcona Park and the Grade 9 curriculum;

Willsville - English 9 students are creating artifacts to represent the Elizabethan era and the context for William Shakespeare’s writing;

Social Studies 10 students have choice in how to represent one of the major battles from WWII leading to board games, cardboard structures, canvas and video and audio recordings;

Physics 12 students have created their own labs to demonstrate their understanding of physics principles. Machines are being built, including a blender, powered by a bicycle, to make smoothies;

The Physics Olympics team is preparing an apparatus to meet the guidelines of the challenge presented by the UBC Physics Olympics (March 9), where they have a problem to solve and can create whatever they like to solve it;

This is a small sample of some of the uses of the Brentwood Makerspace. Supported by our IT Department, it opens the possibilities for exploration and design thinking. We look forward to the inventions that come from this space. Ms Cheryl Murtland