The maker movement has increased in popularity, including in schools where hands-on activities and lessons have become an essential strategy for learning. Schools across the country have successfully created and maintained dynamic makerspaces to spark student imagination and creative thinking as well as curiosity in learning more about STEM-related topics. 

The MimioSTEM Mobile is headed to a school or education event near you! What is it? We at Boxlight want to showcase our award-winning STEM solutions like MyStemKits, Robo 3D printers, and Mimio MyBot robots with an interactive experience in which educators will go on a Mission to Mars!  

There are positive benefits that interactive, hands-on education has on learning such as providing students with multiple opportunities to see the world beyond the classroom walls via real-world connections. STEM education has influenced how teachers guide their students to identify real-world problems, research and design practical solutions, and collaborate and communicate their ideas with others. A STEM tool that has become a familiar fixture in many classrooms and school makerspaces is the 3D printer.  

Meredith Williams, an 8th grade science teacher at Freedom Middle School (Orlando, FL), incorporates a variety of 3D-printed manipulatives so her students have something hands-on to observe, analyze, and form ideas around. She regularly implements and provides feedback on MyStemKits lessons and activities, which she uses in conjunction with her 3D printer. As a MimioSTEM Master, she has been sharing her and her students’ experiences using the MyStemKits curriculum. In this lesson, she is helping her students compare planets. 

Makerspaces, or a collaborative workspace in a classroom, school, library, or other setting, are increasing in popularity in schools because of their many benefits to student learning. These benefits include, but are not limited to, providing students with  

Believe it or not, this generation of young people is interested in data – likes, shares, comments. They sometimes use this data to create content, even apps, to address what they perceive as needs observed. How can this translate to STEM learning in the classroom? When problems are addressed within real-life contexts, this generation of students – digital natives who are accustomed to using technology to find answers and research information – are more likely to be engaged in the learning process. 

It has become obvious that the inclusion of STEM – science, technology, engineering, mathematics - in a well-balanced instructional plan is critical. With the growing need for STEM-educated individuals to fill STEM jobs, students in schools today need the skills necessary for these jobs. This includes critical thinking and reasoning skills, collaboration and communication skills, and developing creative solutions to problems. Students clearly need consistent and varied STEM learning experiences.