This summer, several SABES afterschool facilitators have attended STEM trainings at the Digital Harbor Foundation in order to gain STEM knowledge or skills that can benefit SABES afterschool classrooms. One facilitator, Barbara Bustard-Burnside, recently attended the “Making for Educators” session, during which participants experimented with materials in a makerspace and learned how to create their own makerspaces for students.

Participants were given several engineering challenges throughout the training, including the task of creating a vibrating robot (Vibrobot, seen below) using small vibration motors, a coin cell batter and various other items in their supply boxes.

Building upon the previous challenge, participants were then asked to build a robot capable of drawing (Artbot, seen below) using a battery-powered toothbrush and any other available materials. Hoping to build an Artbot capable of two main tasks – traveling across a page and holding different markers – Burnside used pieces of large straws as wheels and constructed a marker-holder. While her original Artbot only traveled in a large circle, Burnside embraced the “Improve” step of the Engineering Design Process and successfully altered the Artbot’s movement by attaching another source of vibration – her Vibrobot!

These activities taught Burnside about electrical connections, but more so highlighted how simple it can be to create a makerspace that challenges students to think creatively, solve problems and work well individually and as a member of a team. She explained, “[Giving] a big box or a Baggie of items and a challenge to create a specific thing really sparks the imagination and develops creativity, problem solving skills and collaboration.”