Tag: makerspaces

5 Things I Learned at TLA

By Mandi Janikowski, Editor, School/Library Planning & Partnerships

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending my first Texas Library Association (TLA) conference in Dallas. What an amazing experience! From wandering the exhibit hall to sitting in on sessions to talking with librarians from all over the state, I learned so much in the three days I was there. It was an excellent reminder of why I wanted to get into the publishing industry in the first place. Read More

5 Activities to Boost Computational Thinking in the Library

computational thinking skills activity

At the National Association of School Librarian’s Conference in November, I had the pleasure of meeting Lorena Swetnam and Cynthia Johnson, middle school librarians at Blythwood Middle School and Longleaf Middle School in Columbia, South Carolina. They presented on how they’ve introduced computational thinking in their libraries. They’ve pulled together their story with some great example activities and photos. Check it out!—School and Library Publishing Director Jenny Krueger 

Working in a middle school means every day with our students is unique and full of surprises. In the last year, we have worked together to create opportunities for our students and teachers to tinker, create, and collaborate. These makerspace activities allow us to see computational thinking skills in action: logics, algorithms, decomposition, patterns abstraction, and evaluation.

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Growing Maker Education in the Midwest: A Making Spaces Story

This post originally appeared on the Maker Ed blog on June 6, 2017.

“Okay, you two. You have to leave. Your 5th hour teacher will blame me if you’re late class,” I urged Jake and Karina.

“Just one more minute. I have to glue on this last truss,” replied Karina with hot glue gun in hand and surrounded by a pile of spaghetti as her drawbridge slowly took shape.

As a physics teacher at Harding Senior High, the largest Title I high school in Minnesota, I typically stand in the hall between classes trying to get kids to class on time. I never thought I’d have to kick my students out of class or tell them they had to go home by 5 p.m., three hours after school ended. But as my colleagues in physics and engineering and I moved towards building projects with our students, this “problem” grew as well. Read More