Challenge-Based Makerspaces
Course
Examples of Design Challenges [6:35]
- Learn about the Global Cardboard Challenge, based on the short film Caine's Arcade.
- Learn how to create a picture book maker connection through storytime and a design challenge.
- Learn to encourage research and brainstorming through the furniture design challenge.
You might have to get a bit creative sometimes, but hey, that's what we're here for, right? I'm referencing a lot of sources in this episode. Make sure that you check out the annotated bibliography and the other learning support materials for this course to see links to some of these resources and templates for these activities.
One of my all-time favorite design challenges is the cardboard challenge. While it can be done at any time during the school year, the official global cardboard challenge happens every October. Since it's fairly early in the school year, this would often be one of the first design challenges I did with my students each year. The Global Cardboard Challenge was started up by the Imagination Foundation, which formed in response to the short film Caine's Arcade.
If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend watching it. It's the inspirational story of a then nine-year-old boy named Caine, who builds an arcade out of cardboard in his father's auto shop in Los Angeles. An independent filmmaker walked in one day to buy a part for his car and fell in love with Caine's arcade. When he learned that he was Caine's only customer, he organized the flash mob to come together and play.
When I first told my students that we'd be doing a cardboard challenge, some scoffed. Shocked that we would use something like cardboard, when we had all these fancy maker tools available. After watching Caine's Arcade, they were excited and inspired. A few years later, when asked what their favorite thing in our makerspace was, my students almost unanimously said "cardboard." The exact prompt that I use for cardboard challenge varies from one year to the next. Sometimes we'll focus on arcade games, other times it would be more open-ended.
Cardboard city is a fun variation where students construct buildings out of cardboard, that we group together to form a giant diorama. Here's one example of a prompt. The goal? Make an arcade game out of cardboard. Who? Choose your own groups. Materials? Projects must be at least 75% cardboard. Time? Two afterschool maker's club session of one hour each. Share? Global cardboard challenge event on a Saturday. Again, that's just one example. Figure out what variations would work best for you. I have found that the cardboard challenge is a great activity for any grade level.
The next challenge is more of a template than a specific challenge. Creating picture book maker connections. This challenge works best for elementary school, although it's possible to do with older grades as well, depending on how receptive your students are to reading picture books. What I love about using pictures books to inspire design challenge is that it is a beautiful way to bring literacy and traditional library programming into the maker movement.
For this design challenge, select a picture book. There's many fantastic ones out there about creativity, tinkering, and making. It can also be a story that your students love, that you want to create a maker connection to. Read the book to the class as a story time. After reading it, talk with your students for a bit about the story and then introduce your design challenge. Maybe your prompt will be to create a contraption like one mentioned in the book or to design a new solution to help one of the characters with a problem. At the end of the activity, have each student or group share their project and their idea with the class. Check out the learning supports for a list of picture books and maker connections to go along with them.
This last design challenge can be a little bit more complicated, but the results are very rewarding. I found that it works great for middle and high school, but it could absolutely, be adapted to elementary school as well. This is the furniture design challenge. Furniture is something that our students interact with every day whether they think about it or not. Challenge them to think about how they could make it better. Maybe you'll have them design their dream bedroom or brainstorm how you could adapt and improve existing library furniture.
When I did this challenge with my students, it was born out of a collaboration with the furniture company, Custom Educational Furnishings or CEF. My students brainstormed ideas for an item of furniture that could help another school to start a makerspace. They did research on different types of maker furniture that already existed and interviewed fellow students to find out more about how they used our makerspace. Some students created and printed out 3D models, others constructed models out of paper, cardboard, Legos, and more. At the end of the design challenge, CEF came out to listen to the students present their ideas and offer constructive feedback and a view into what the business of manufacturing furniture looks like. Check out the supplemental materials to see a video of my students presenting.
While not every school will have a furniture company come out to hear their pitches, there are still plenty of other ways you can adopt the furniture design challenge for your school. Here is an example of what your prompts could look like. Design a piece of furniture to help another school start a makerspace. Choose your own groups. The materials can be anything you want. You'll have two after school maker sessions of one hour each. Present your ideas to industry professionals through a video conference and as a creative constraint, your idea must be something that's actually feasible in real life. In other words, don't put flamethrowers on your supply carts.
To wrap this section up, I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts. A year in your makerspace can look however you want it to look. There can be open exploration time throughout the day, maker workshops, after- and during-school maker clubs. You could hold design challenges as a part of your collaborations with teachers or as separate programs. There's so many possibilities, but no matter what, don't wait until you have everything figured out to get started—because you'll never have everything figured out. Just take that first step and get started with making in your school.
Throughout this course, challenge-based makerspaces and design challenges have been discussed in great detail. Using the worksheet on page 8 of the handout found in the resources below, begin to plan your next design challenge and create a design prompt for it. Reflect on each portion and how it differs from design challenges in the past. What improvements can you note? What supplies will you need? How can you incorporate these design challenges into your lessons?
In this lesson there are three design challenges discussed to help steer your creativity in creating challenge-based makerspaces. These challenges may be differentiated just as you would a lesson plan. Choose one of the design challenges discussed in this lesson and reflect on how you would change it to make it work in your library or makerspace? What adjustments would you make to the design prompt? See page 11 of the handout in the resources above to jot down your notes.
MLA Citation
"Challenge-Based Makerspaces: Creating a Design Challenge with Design Prompts." School Library Connection, April 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2263252?learningModuleId=2263194&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2263441
In this lesson, we learned how to create picture book maker connections. Combining literacy and library programming into the maker movement is a wonderful way to enrich your students. However, diving into a picture book and figuring out how to create a maker connection can prove daunting. In the resources below, Diana Rendina has proved a several picture books that she has found translate very well to design challenges—and even provided the basic elements needed for these challenges. Review the list provided and reflect on which will work best with your students. If you are looking to use with older students, how can you adjust the challenge to be more age-appropriate?
Using picture books to create a design challenge is a wonderful way to combine literacy and creativity. What other types of books or reading materials do you think would lend themselves to a design challenge? What materials lend themselves best to create maker connections to? See page 11 of the handout in the resources above to jot down your notes.
MLA Citation
"Challenge-Based Makerspaces: Picture Book Design Challenge." School Library Connection, April 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2263252?learningModuleId=2263194&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2263442
Additional Resources
About the Author
MLA Citation
Rendina, Diana L. "Challenge-Based Makerspaces. Examples of Design Challenges [6:35]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, April 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2263252?learningModuleId=2263194&topicCenterId=2247902.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2263252?learningModuleId=2263194&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 2263252