Why a Makerspace Popped Up in a Museum
Date Posted: July 16, 2019
Posted In: Ideas,
From NextCity: Most people wouldn’t think of science as quirky, but if they’d witnessed a posse of orange, papier-maché robotic pumpkins racing down the hall at the Science Museum of Virginia (SMV), in Richmond, Virginia, they might re-think that image. Over the past several years, libraries, museums and community centers around the country have opened “makerspaces” where young people can come and play with equipment they may not have at home — like 3D printers or circuitry boards. The pumpkin race is just one example of what has come out of The Mix, the teen-focused makerspace at SMV. And while pumpkin races are good fun, makerspaces like SMV’s aim for that fun to translate into greater equity for low-income groups and people of color.
Research has found that access to technology isn’t equal across economic and racial lines. This, then, has an impact on future employment opportunities and social interaction. Jason Adkins, who manages The Mix, says that bringing kids from diverse backgrounds together exposes them to different perspectives.
“It causes a lot of friction, but it also changes perspectives and hopefully broadens their sense of the world,” Adkins says. “It’s harder to demonize someone when they are right in front of you and their not a caricature but someone you have a lot in common with.”
Matt Baker, who runs maker education at The Forge, SMV’s intergenerational makerspace, agrees that the makerspaces aim to develop more than just technical skills. “It’s an approach to learning we like to call the ‘maker mindset,’ seeing yourself as someone who can learn on their own and use the resources around them…to solve that problem,” Baker says. “We’re trying to give alums those twenty-first-century skills that tie directly into that knowledge or skill-building of persistence or grit, collaboration, motivation, all those softer skills that don’t get measured but that are just as important.”
SMV’s makerspaces, fit within a larger network of libraries, museums and community centers coordinated by YOUmedia, a program of the National Writing Project. In 2011, YOUmedia Learning Labs Network launched five labs with support from the MacArthur Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
Now the network has grown to some 30 spaces across the U.S. that aim to both increase equitable access to technology and encourage creative learning. The network developed the HOMAGO approach to learning: hang out, mess around, and geek out.
At The Mix, teens can play with green screens, use 3D printers, and sew. The time is unstructured, with all classes and workshops being optional. Teens “need a social space to hang out and be teens and explore things without the repercussions of grades or a teacher saying, ‘this is a failure,’” says Adkins.
Zainab Hassan, 20, first came to The Mix in 2015. Now, she works there part-time as a mentor while attending community college.
“The space gave me the opportunity to learn skills I was interested in learning, but my school didn’t necessarily offer unless it was in an intensive class that required prior knowledge,” Hassan wrote in a statement provided by the museum. She also praised the fact that she was able to learn at her own pace. “This was a space that freely gave me the guidance, tools, and materials to learn new skills such as soldering and 3D printing, a pretty strong drawing point for any new teen, but it was the community that exists in the space that kept me coming back nearly every possible day.”