Harness the Power of Virtual Makerspaces to Create Equitable Access to STEAM!

Purpose & objective

Learning objectives:
Teachers will be well-equipped to integrate 3D platforms and virtual makerspaces into their teaching practices, fostering a dynamic and inclusive learning environment that prepares students for emerging STEM careers.

Technology Interventions:
I introduce three virtual makerspaces that I highly recommend to teachers.
1. Maker’s Empire, www.makerempire.com
2. TinkerCAD, www.tinkercad.com
3. Qweebi Virtual Makerspace, www.qweebi.com

Instructional Activities:
Here is a summary of the lesson examples I will introduce to teachers

Pre K - 8 Activities:
Platform: Maker's Empire
Skills EDP, Design Thinking, Math

For example, with the activities I’m highlighting on MakersEmpire, teachers can put their students in the shoes real world job roles of architects, interior designers, and fashion designers. Students engage deeply in practical problem-solving scenarios and acquire valuable skills such as design proficiency, spatial reasoning, and a comprehensive grasp of 3D modeling.

4 to 12 Activities:
Platform: TinkerCAD
Skills: Measurement, Scale, Circuits, 3D Modeling

For example, I highlight an activity called ‘The wheelchair challenge: Create a Wheelchair for Difficult Terrain and Environments’. Students design wheelchair that’s capable of handling difficult terrain in 3D using TinkerCAD. They go on to test their designs by 3D printing physical prototypes and continue iterating through the build-test-improve loop of the engineering design process.

4 to 12 Activities
Platform: Qweebi Virtual Makerspace
Skills: EDP, Engineering mindset, Circuits, Forces, Newton's laws

Example, in the ‘Mar Rover Challenge’ from Qweebi, students are put in the shoes of NASA engineers where they design & build a rover that can climb over steep hills. When students test their rovers against the hilly terrain, they are able to see real time data on various parameters of their rover prototype. They can collect data on parameters like how much thrust force their rovers have, how heavy their rover is and how fast it’s going. Based on this data on their test runs and their knowledge of Newton’s second law (force = mass x acceleration), students then make design changes to either increase the propulsion thrust force or make their rover’s lighter to be able to gather enough acceleration to climb over the hilly terrain.

Outline

Interactive Discussion (15 min)

• Presentor Introductions
  
• Group Discussion with audiance
  
• The problems with DEI in STEAM education
  
• Introducing Virtual Makerspaces
  
• How can Virtual Makerspaces solve these problems

Meet Maker’s Empire (15 min)

• LIVE Demo
  
• Lesson sample & student work showcase

Meet TinkerCAD (15 min)

• LIVE Demo
  
• Lesson sample & student work showcase

Meet Qweebi (35 min)

• LIVE Demo
  
• Do a hands-on STEAM project with audience

Supporting research

https://www.makersempire.com/impact/
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1138607/full