Maker Space – A subject or an experience?

Maker Space is a constructivist and constructionist movement that is taking the world by storm. It is an amalgamation of Do It Yourself (DIY) and learning. Maker Space is an educational concept where students get to learn, experiment, and experience simultaneously. It presents readily-available materials that can act as a provocation for inquiry, as well as modern technology and items to invent with.

Canadian International School (CIS), a top school in Bangalore, understands that in an increasingly technologically-oriented world, students need to feel challenged to nurture creativity, innovation, and learning. Maker Space is a class subject in Middle School at CIS. This type of teaching and learning is critical for students to move away from consumption and toward creation in our educational settings.

The Maker Space at CIS allows students to learn at a deeper level. It is a known fact that information and learning are retained more when students are engaged in creative thinking that connects to the subject. Experimenting and creating in the classroom leads to a maker mindset, which is an essential skill for living a full and successful life in the 21st century. The Maker Space as a subject also seamlessly integrates with our Definition of Learning – a transformative process that leads to conceptual understanding, demonstration of competencies through application, and character development as seen through the CIS Core Values of Integrity, Joy, Caring, Respect, and Inspiration. Students get a conceptual understanding of what they are learning, they are able to experiment and channel their curiosity, and they become creative and innovative thinkers.

A changing global economy should incur changes in the way students learn too. Maker Space encourages students to engage in iterative, creative, and critical thinking. They need to know how to pivot, how to change, how to revise, how to persevere, and how to solve complex problems. They need to think divergently. Maker Space at CIS embeds that maker mindset inside of the Middle School curriculum. While the space only acts as a platform, the opportunity for students to create and experiment what they learn facilitates a deeper sense of learning.

To learn more about the Middle School program at Canadian International School (CIS) and understand the Maker Space concept, reach out to us at enroll@cisb.org.in