Story and photos by Yusef Murphy ‚29
The makerspace is very different from a regular quiet classroom where everyone sits down and listens to the teacher. It is very chaotic, with many kids using power tools, building wood furniture, and conversing with their classmates about their projects. This is Middle School Science Teacher/Maker and Robotics Coordinator Mr. Lawrence’s and Middle School Assistant Athletic Director Coach Meineke’s Winter Term class, Maker 5/6. In this class, students learn how to build different pieces of furniture using digital fabrication.
When first walking into the maker space, one thing people see is how hectic the class is. Students are using loud power tools, communicating with classmates, laying wood around the room, and spreading sawdust everywhere. In addition, the class gets very crowded at times because students ask Mr. Lawrence and Coach Meineke for help with their projects, kids are waiting to use power tools, and students‘ projects are sitting on the floor and tables of the maker space.
Mr. Lawrence was motivated to create this class because he loves spending much of his time in the maker space and thought that students would also enjoy creating different wooden structures and using digital fabrication. Mr. Lawrence also thought many students were very productive, on task, and worked well with their classmates. In addition, Mr. Lawrence said that the most important skill he wanted the students to learn after taking the class was the ability to use different tools, such as saws, grinders, hammers, nail guns, and drills.
Alessandro Palop ’32 said the objective of the class is to build furniture and build something out of digital fabrication. Alessandro also said the different projects for building furniture were a bench, lap desk, birdhouse, and side table. He noted the things you could build with digital fabrication were small toys, nameplates, and pencil holders.
In all, Maker is a fun class where students use their creative thinking skills to create different pieces of furniture and use digital fabrication. Mr. Lawrence’s Winter Term class taught these students to use their creativity and problem-solving skills to help them later in life.