Reading Outside of School is Very Important for
Kids. What's the Makers Movement About?
(BPT) - Can kids playing with Legos make the world a better
place? Will children who build their own rocket ships or dollhouses
go on to be the adult innovators of tomorrow, who take on the
world's challenges with technology and creativity? If 13-year-old
Shubham Banerjee is an example of young makers, the answer to
those questions may be a resounding "Yes!"
After reading that most Braille printers cost more than $2,000,
Shubham decided this price was "crazy" and set out to create a
cheaper alternative. Using a Lego kit and parts from a local
hardware store, he built a prototype Braille printer of his own. The
price? About $350. With financial and technology backing from
Intel, Shubham founded his own company and is now working on
a more advanced, low-cost Braille printer based on the postagestamp size Intel Edison computing platform.
Intel Edison development boards and new programming
languages are enabling hands-on learning and encouraging
children of all ages to use these tools to move from passive
receivers of knowledge to real-world makers. For the first
time, students can take their powerful ideas to create real
things, not just make-believe models. Kids can solve real
problems with their own inventions and easily explore
science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) career
opportunities.
The Maker Movement holds the promise to specifically inspire
girls to pursue STEM studies and even careers. An Intel
study, called MakeHers, found that the social-service aspects
motivate female makers and that girl makers develop more
interest and skills in computer science and engineering.
Shubham's story is amazing and inspiring - and less of an
exception than you might think. His story is one of the many
successes emerging from the Maker Movement. Makers come
from all socio-economic backgrounds and are all ages. They use
technology and creativity to reinvent the world around them,
whether it's adding motion-sensitive LED lights to Barbie's outfit,
creating a tweetable coffee pot or using sensors to create an appenabled watering system for their houseplants. Many, like
Shubham, are employing their skills as makers to create their own
career opportunities.
"The lesson for all of us is that making and exploring through play
is not just about celebrating the gifted but about triggering and
encouraging the talent living inside every child," says Jay Melican,
Intel's maker czar. "Study after study supports that the best way to
activate a curious mind is to make something. That might be an
amazing high-tech invention or a messy science experiment. This
shift to making represents the perfect storm of new technological
materials, expanded opportunities, learning through hands-on
experience and the basic human impulse to create."
Affordable technology and the ability to share online has fueled
the Maker Movement. New tools like 3D printers, robotics,
affordable microprocessors like the Intel Galileo or
Parents and teachers of school-age children may already
unwittingly participate in the Maker Movement when children
use tablets in the classroom, play coding games or build a
soapbox car at home. Attending a Maker Faire is a great way
to learn more about the world of Making and inspire kids of all
ages.
Heralded as the "greatest show-and-tells on earth," the Maker
Faire in San Mateo, California annually attracts more than
145,000 children and adults over just one weekend.
Hundreds of Maker Faires are held around the world
throughout the year. They gather to make things, show off,
challenge one another, laugh, play, invent, tinker, solve
problems and inspire.
Excitement, rather than expertise, is the coin of the realm in
this magical environment full of fire-breathing sculptures,
cupcake cars, bicycle-powered rock bands, soda and Mentospropelled fountains and workshops in programming,
soldering, welding, lock-picking, knitting, crocheting and robot
making.
To learn more and to find a Maker Faire near you, visit
makerfaire.com.
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