Winter seems to be hanging on a bit longer, so grab a good book and cozy up with some excellent reading material to get you through. Need a few suggestions? Here’s what to read when you love makerspaces.
Digital Handmade: Craftsmanship and the New Industrial Revolution
by Lucy Johntson
While the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century diminished the role of the craftsperson in the manufacturing process, the
digital revolution has had a less devastating effect. Today’s digital technologies have given rise to entirely new working methods, skill sets, and consumer products that don’t eliminate, but enrich traditional hand techniques. Digital Handmade presents eighty international designers, artists, and craftsmen who combine the precision and flexibility of computing and digital fabrication with the skill and tactility of the master artisan to create unexpected and desirable objects and products. These pioneers include Louise Lemieux Berube, a Canadian artist whose work integrates photography and weaving; Australian jewelry designer Cinnamon Lee, whose designs explore the relationship between hand and machine; and Japanese artists Nendo, who produce ceramic pieces that employ both digital fabrication and ancient traditional methods.
Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom
by Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary S. Stager
There’s a technological and creative revolution underway. Amazing new tools, materials and skills turn us all into makers. Using technology to make, repair or customize the things we need brings engineering, design and computer science to the masses. Fortunately for educators, this maker movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. The active learner is at the center of the learning process, amplifying the best traditions of progressive education. This book helps educators bring the exciting opportunities of the maker movement to every classroom.
The Maker Movement Manifesto: Rules for Innovation in the New World of Crafters, Hackers, and Tinkerers
by Mark Hatch
Zero to Maker: Learn (Just Enough) to Make (Just About) Anything
by David Lang
Are you possessed by the urge to invent, design, and make something that others enjoy, but don’t know how to plug into the Maker movement? In this book, you’ll follow author David Lang’s headfirst dive into the Maker world and how he grew to be a successful entrepreneur. You’ll discover how to navigate this new community, and find the best resources for learning the tools and skills you need to be a dynamic maker in your own right.
Lang reveals how he became a pro maker after losing his job, and how the experience helped him start OpenROV—a DIY community and product line focused on open source undersea exploration. It all happened once he became an active member of the Maker culture. Ready to take the plunge into the next Industrial Revolution? This guide provides a clear and inspiring roadmap.
The Makerspace Workbench: Tools, Technologies, and Techniques for Making
By Adam Kemp
Create a dynamic space for designing and building DIY electronic hardware, programming, and manufacturing projects. With this illustrated guide, you’ll learn the benefits of having a Makerspace—a shared space with a set of shared tools—that attracts fellow makers and gives you more resources to work with. You’ll find clear explanations of the tools, software, materials, and layout you need to get started—everything from basic electronics to rapid prototyping technology and inexpensive 3D printers.
A Makerspace is the perfect solution for many makers today. While you can get a lot done in a fully-decked out shop, you’ll always have trouble making space for the next great tool you need. And the one thing you really miss out on in a personal shop is the collaboration with other makers. A Makerspace provides you with the best of both worlds.
Perfect for any maker, educator, or community, this book shows you how to organize your environment to provide a safe and fun workflow, and demonstrates how you can use that space to educate others.
Big Book of Makerspace Projects
by Colleen Graves & Aaron Graves
Written by two school librarians obsessed with making stuff, this easy-to-follow guide is full of hands-on, low-cost makerspace projects that will inspire inventors and makers of all ages. The Big Book of Makerspace Projects: Inspiring Makers to Experiment, Create, and Learn features practical tips for beginners and open-ended challenges for advanced makers.
The book features dozens of classroom-tested, hands-on DIY projects and challenges. Each project features clear, non-technical step-by-step instructions with photos and illustrations to ensure success, expand the imagination, and foster innovation. You will explore recyclables hacks, smartphone tweaks, paper and sewing circuits, e-textiles, musical instruments, coding and programming, 3-D printing, and much, much more!
A surge of voices from government, industry, and education have argued that, in order to equip the next generation for life and work in the decades ahead, it is vital to support maker-centered learning in various educational environments. Maker-Centered Learning provides insight into what that means, and offers tools and knowledge that can be applied anywhere that learning takes place.
“The world doesn’t need more graduates with good grades: What the world needs is voracious, self-directed learners with the creative capacity to see the problems of the world as puzzles, and the tenacity to work on them, even in the face of adversity.”
—Gever Tulley, founder of the Brightworks School in San Francisco, California
Hopefully winter won’t last enough to get through all of these books, but don’t let warmer weather stop you from reading up on makerspace ideas. If you have any suggestions to add to the list in the meantime, let us know! Comment below or send them to us in an email.
And then some,
Your Friends @ OBP
Recent Comments