Blending play, imagination, and creativity, staff and students at Ox Ridge Elementary School launched the school’s first Maker Faire this month.
Photo from Darien Public Schools website
During the week-long event, the school’s 461 students rotated through a variety of stations in the school’s library that allowed them to experiment and explore.
Exhibits included opportunities to make instruments, create short movies, build an electric fishing rod, drive programmable cars, use a Makey Makey programmable circuit board, and direct the school’s Sphero robots. Students from Darien High School’s Independent Projects in Engineering course ran a few of the exhibits.
There were even stations to construct paper airplanes, and build with Legos and cardboard. Not to mention a magical time machine.
The point of putting on a Maker Faire “is to enrich our school community with additional experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) for all. We want students to feel empowered as they both explored innovative ideas and created with their friends,” said Principal Luke Forshaw.
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— an announcement from Darien Public Schools website
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A Maker Faire is an event that highlights and celebrates the science and art of creativity. It’s a place to host new ideas and a time for minds to be expanded by new possibilities, said Forshaw.
Library Media Specialist Priscilla Blake coordinated the event alongside Ox Ridge’s PTO enrichment volunteers.
The Maker Faire was part of a broader school effort to encourage innovative, creative, and critical thinking. The Ox Ridge School STEAM Team — a collaborative of teachers, administrators and community members — developed the plan for the Maker Faire, and now have plans to establish a permanent makerspace in the Ox Ridge library where students can create all year long.
“This area will foster a sense of community that will encourage play and creativity for the entire school community,” said Forshaw.