Makerspace helps Frazier students reinforce classroom lessons
Frazier Elementary School third-grader Jenna Pellick (left) helps classmate Tanner Merrill construct a donut out of bubble wrap and tape in the school’s makerspace room.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Frazier Elementary School fourth-graders Aidan Hardy (left) and Josh Girvin describe the project they constructed using available materials in the school’s makerspace.
Rebecca Devereaux| Herald-Standard
Frazier Elementary School third-grader Vanessa Ankrom works on constructing a cake from cardboard and tape in the makerspace classroom.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Frazier Elementary School artist-in-residence Rita Haldeman explains to a third-grade class some of the crafts they’ll be making in the makerspace that day.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Frazier Elementary School third-grader Chris Petruska enjoys himself while making a craft with his classmates in the makerspace classroom.
Frazier Elementary School fourth-grade student Taryn Bateman read the short children’s play “Girl. Fighter. Hero.” with her class. Weeks later, she can recall the characters, the scenes and much of the plot by looking at a diorama she made with classmates in the school’s new makerspace.
Reading teacher Rachel Whittaker marched her class to the revamped room on the first floor of the school after it finished reading the play. There, they worked together to build models that recreate the play’s scenes using available materials.
“Through doing this (project), they can recall the play. They can pretty much tell you the whole thing,” said Whittaker, whose class is learning how to write summaries. “It’s a good way for students to retain what they’re learning and not just memorize for a test.”
Embracing the maker movement, Frazier installed the creative learning space to help teachers supplement their classroom teaching with art-based projects for students that reinforce subject material in a fun way, said Principal Kelly Muic.
For the start of the school year, the school transformed a vacant classroom into a bright workshop equipped with art and craft supplies where students, like those in Whittaker’s class, can develop create, invent and build.
“This is all about (the students). They select what they want to do, decorate how they see fit,” said Muic. “Ideally I like to see them come together and work on something together. It’s another way to keep creativity alive and promote innovative thinking.”
The new space helps promote the four “C”s of 21st century learning — critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity — in a school that doesn’t have an art room and has only limited time with the district art teacher.
“In looking at what we were missing, we were missing a way to develop 21st-century skills,” said Muic. “Everybody was left to their own devices to develop the four C’s, so this was a great way to fill a gap.”
The space was made possible through district funds and a substantial amount of help from district parents, who donated reusable materials like paper towel rolls and cardboard boxes to stock the room.
The school’s youngest students in kindergarten, first and second grades regularly use the space to construct their creations, with parents coming in to work with them on activities. Third, fourth and fifth-grade classes are encouraged to take advantage of the room when it’s available.
Visual artist Rita Haldeman has been working in the district 14 years through the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art artist-in-residence program.
While she typically spends her residencies in art rooms, Haldeman is currently on a 20-day stint in the makerspace as she guides third-grade classes through art projects.
“I like the kids to get their hands dirty — get them thinking, use your hands, figure it out, solve problems,” said Haldeman. “I want them to take away that this is more than an arts and craft class, but something of substance.”
The space quickly became been so popular at Frazier that a need emerged to extend the program into individual classrooms. A mobile, miniature version of the makerspace, called a maker cart, has many of the same supplies so students can work on projects in the classroom. Two carts are available for each grade.
In Whittaker’s fourth-grade class, students read a story about a time machine, then were asked to work in groups to create a model of what they thought a time machine might look like using supplies from the maker cart.
Student Shelby Hough and four of her classmates used materials from the cart, including construction paper, pipe cleaners, sand, feathers and string, to design and decorate their model.
“Students are learning how to draw inferences from a story. They used prior knowledge plus what they learned in the story to create what they thought a time machine would look like,” said Whittaker.
“It’s just a good way for the kids to collaborate with each other, cooperate with each other, accept each others’ differences and be creative.”