What is Make? Who are Makers?
Starting with the launch of MAKE Magazine in 2005, the Maker Movement has grown a community of tech-influenced, DIYer (Do-It-Yourselfers). These are hobbyist, enthusiasts or students, innovators, creating new products, ideas and producing value in their communities. Some makers are entrepreneurs and start companies.
Maker’s Kit is a great resource for maker kits, ideas and DIY (do-it-yourself) projects.
What’s a Maker Faire?
Knows as the “greatest show and tell on earth,” the Maker Faire is the premier event for grassroots American innovation.
Colorado currently has three Mini-Maker Faires annually: one hosted in May in Denver and the other two are in October in Loveland and Colorado Springs.
The online community for Maker Faire is called MakerSpace. It is currently being Beta Tested.
Why Maker & 4-H?
4-H is the original maker. In the late nineteenth century, researchers discovered adults in the farming community were unwilling to accept new agricultural developments on university campuses, but found that young people were open to new thinking and would experiment with new ideas and share their experience with adults. In this way, rural youth programs introduced new agricultural technology to communities.
The idea of practical and “hands-on” learning came from the desire to connect public school education to country life. Building community clubs to help solve agricultural challenges was a first step toward youth learning more about the industries in their community. (http://www.4-h.org/about/4-h-history/)
The 100-year anniversary of the signing of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 which officially created the national Cooperative Extension System took place in 2014. This celebration highlighted Extension’s past focus on the contemporary application of Extension’s transformational educational programming in the future. (http://www.extension100years.net/; http://www.ext.colostate.edu/nso/land-grant/)
For more information on the relationship between Maker and Extension, check out this article!
Top 5 Questions about the Maker Movement
Maker Camp is a free online summer camp for kids and Makers of all ages! Join young inventors and artists from around the world in six weeks of fun-filled maker projects.
Maker Camp starts July 11!
To describe them simply, makerspaces are community centers with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve.
The Maker Playbook has all of the information you would need to learn about Maker Spaces and developing your own space.
If you are looking for a Maker Space near you, check out the Maker Space Directory.
Instrucatables is a place to share what you’ve made! You can join instructables for free and become part of the community. Instructables community also provides professional development. For example, you can learn the basics of ardunio.
Thingiverse is totally integrated with MakerBot 3D printing system. It’s the place to learn, make, explore and design your next 3D printed thingy.
Wondering about Career Connections? Here is a video for Makers when Applying for College. (credit: MIT)
MakerCon connects the individuals at the forefront of the Maker Movement and taps into the best thinking on how to make things and get them to market, from new technologies to manufacturing models to funding methods. MakerCon is a meeting place for passionate entrepreneurs who want to test the commercial waters for their prototypes; cultural and civic leaders driving Maker initiatives; and product developers inspired by the Maker Movement.
What is the real cost of going to college and what financial options do students have? Learn more in the newest 4-H at Home activities brought to you by TD Ameritrade..
Even the littlest of kids can dive into the fascinating world of the animals and insects that keep the earth alive. Then test their knowledge to become a pollinator pro!
FOURWARD Fund Video
