Importance of a Community
Makers need a community. Creating and designing is great. However, having a conversation about what you are creating is even better. Some of the ideas and problem-solving come from the community, and it creates this unity to build and develop as a group.
Cohort Meeting
One of those community for me is the cohort meetings. Several of those meetings were design based focus, and those are the one that I enjoyed. The two memorable meetings have been the one about creating a gift for someone else, and the cardboard challenge. Both of those meetings are were ones that I felt represent why I think having a community is essential. The gift one was around Christmas, and the focus was about asking your partner questions and coming up with a gift that your partner could give to someone. At the end of the activity, my partner and I both came up with gift ideas that we liked. This one of my favorite meeting, because it was with a lot of conversation about how to design a gift for someone else. It got everyone thinking and letting ideas come out to be explored.
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The second cohort meeting that has meant a lot to me was the cardboard challenge one. As a team, we were given the word, and had to create something with cardboard out of it. The reason why I loved this one was we created a catapult, and it inspired me to try this next year with my students. I had the most fun working with my team, and it was so satisfying to make a functional catapult out of cardboard, hot glue, rubber band, and glue. The meeting shows off the importance of talking, because it was meeting that got me wanting to focus on creating a lesson around cardboards, maybe the focus is on a catapult.
MathHappens
The other community that I share ideas with is the MathHappens one. I have worked for MathHappens for the past year, and honestly, it got me thinking about math differently. The best example of that was when I went to a museum in New Orleans and saw a STEM Exhibit. My sister and I concluded it a bad exhibit, but then I started to think about one specific item and started to talk about it with MathHappens. I only started to think about that redesign that item, because of what MathHappens does at museums. When doing something at the exhibit, they don’t say here’s something that is math but then allows the audience to interact and display the math. Most of the time they allow them to create something that represents the math model. Most exhibit only displays the product and not the science and planning that went into it.
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Another aspect that I gain from this community is the idea of using simple tools the best of our abilities. All the tools that we create are out of wood and cut from a laser cutter, but the function of the tools are usually simple that relates to math. There I learn how to use a quadrant for in multiple ways. I believe working there has change unintentionally started to change my philosophy to what it is today, and I didn’t realize it until I started student teaching. Mastery of tools is as impactful as learning new ones. I have learned to master tools that were used in the olden days, but have used modern tools to recreate them. Both of those aspects reflects a lot of my philosophy.
Maker Events
The last community I want to talk about is going to Maker events. I’ve gone to several events such as SXSW Education, maker meetups, and Maker Faire. At these events, I am either a participant or a volunteer at them. All these events reflect the aspect of communication and sharing ideas. However, looking back at these events, I realize that I see the lack of diversity in a lot of them. The majority of the people are white, or males. Ideas are shared, and people talk about challenges, but a lot of them come from a background of STEM. I have spoken with people at these events that aren’t part of the majority, such as a man that came from a background of art and decided to take part in learning how to build and code. At the same time, I also don’t hear a lot of talk about equity at these events. I know that is not the first thing that someone will want to talk about, but I also believe that there could be a conversation about how one's goal or is an equitable action. The event that has been the most diverse and equitable to me has been the maker meet up where we made a stamp.
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The stamp one was one that was the majority of females attended, but also one that brought in a conversation about how to elevate a project by simple programming. The project was about creating a stamp and a sound bit that showed off someone that you admire that has impacted the STEM field by contributing to it. That broadness allowed people to choose a diverse group of people. ( I did mine on Jackie Chan.) What was cool about this event was it was one that shared several aspects of my maker philosophy. It is projected that involve using the tools of words, sounds, and art, but it was elevated by adding a technology aspect that was new to some people. There was one end goal, but how people approached was so different. The event was diverse because it shows different perspectives, but also equitable because it focused on incorporating small tools, that students could use, and there was a conversation about those tools in a classroom. It was a well-rounded event that talked about learning, brought in personal background and culture while teaching everyone to use tools while using old tools.
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MakerFaire
I have gone to two Maker Faires (Austin and Bay Area) helping MathHappen at a booth. Both of them tried to bring in different areas of making while showing off some of them. They want to let people see a broader aspect of what making entitles, and focus on specific aspects. One of the fantastic things that the Austin Maker Faire did was bring in children to the event and experience making. The children came from different background, and it was great trying to teach them, and adults, about math that was worked on by females.
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Both faires had a similar idea, purpose, but the Bay Area one is bigger, and more people attending. The Bay Area one had a day for students to come in and interact. The other two days where general days. That one I got to see a lot more different and creative ways to make. People were more engaged and wanting to interact with the making there than Austin. It was a lot more technology-focused too.
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I did enjoy the experience at both Maker Faire event, but I want to be critical about it. One thing I didn't realize until I went to about the Bay Area one is that there's a lot of people wanting to sell products or promote something so they can earn money. That aspect of that made the movement feel like the people attending have to money to part of the movement. I say that because when I was working at the Bay Area one, children kept asking how much did it cost to do our activity of coloring or making fractal patterns. The fact that was a question children have to worry about as they attend an event that supposed to encourage them to practice making and expose them to a different aspect of it, was disappointing. I understand that things cost to produce, but at the same time, I feel like the money wall prevents people from really wanting to dive into the aspect of what making means.
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Reflecting over the Bay Area one, I realize that there was a lack of diversity. It was the majority of the attendee was Asians or Caucasian. I was staying at a place that was 10-15 minutes away from the event center and the majority of that community was Hispanic. It felt like a disconnect from part of the local community. I don't know if they knew about the event or even cared, but there could have have been an outreach program to get the local community to also attend the event. It was noticeable to me as a guess of the area. Reflecting on the Austin one, I felt it was a bit more diverse, but the majority was still Asian or Caucasian.
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I didn't attend the Austin education part of the Maker Faire, but the Bay Area one, MathHappens was one of the only educational both. I felt that the education section wasn't great, because there was a disconnect of what of how it relates to making at times, and how it would benefit the children.
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Maker Faire was a good experience as a maker. It has several great parts, but I didn't feel like they were reaching to the local community enough to diversify their attendee. As an educator, I don't know if I gained a lot of new ideas, or found any major benefits.
Conclusion
What all these communities have in common, is there is some a goal to a conversation about making, and how we can get people involved in it. Though not every community event is diverse, there is always a conversation about the impact of making and what is the next step to improve it and get it to more people. The community needs more people of different background to come and speak about their experience. If we want to have more making in school, then these events should also have a workshop to show teachers how to do making in class. The maker community is one that is growing and is a place a conversation to build ideas.