With experiential learning taking the limelight at the Middle School in Oxford Hills, it was only a matter of time before it made its way to the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS).
Jennifer Lance, the Librarian at OHCHS, is hoping to make the Oxford Hills district more cutting edge by bringing Maker Spaces to the area. What is a Maker Space, you might ask? According to Lance it’s a place where kids can be creative and learn how to do something that they might not necessarily be able to do at home.
The Maker Space at OHCHS will be beginning around the last Monday in October, and will be happening the last Monday of every month. They will be known as Maker Mondays. During this time, kids will have the opportunity to do things such as design comic book shoes, making stationary, or carving pumpkins that were donated to the program by Pumpkin Land.
It will be just open to high school students as it gets off from its feet. But Lance is hopeful that by good word of mouth other libraries in the Community will begin incorporating Maker Spaces into their libraries.
Lance says, “So it’s giving them a chance, because that’s what libraries do, right? They share things in a free way so you can have an experience that you wouldn’t have before, and whether thats a book, or a cricut machine. Who's going to go buy a $350 cutting machine to use at home? Nobody. So for us to have it here means that lots of people can experience that, and that’s what we’re trying to do; find some things that run along that mode of introducing new concepts to people.”
Lance also says, “It definitely works; it’s a different way to learn and we want to make sure that we’re giving people not just one level. Sometimes people see libraries one way and we actually work a lot of different ways. Acrossed the country a lot of school libraries are trying to have a Maker Space.”
Maker Spaces are becoming quite popular around the United States, and the state of Maine. In the building of a new high school in Portland the architect designed in a Maker Space into the Library.
The Camden library lets students check out Maker kits, where students can actually check out a kit and do a project at home or on their own time. Lance is hoping to have Maker Kits at OHCHS as well.
Jennifer is hoping that the Maker Space at OHCHS will give students a chance to take a break from regular learning and do something fun that you could take something away from, like a new skill.
