Ask The Experts: Makerspaces Spark Creativity

Q: How can designing things in a makerspace spark creative problem solving?

A: “The creative problem-solving becomes collaborative when you’re in a makerspace,” says Nick DiGiorgio, director of makerspaces at Hawken School. “In particular, you’re surrounded by people that are interested in thinking differently about work and thinking differently about processing. The collaboration allows you to share your idea, get feedback and then take it and enhance it and share it again. Makerspaces allow the kids to figure things out at their own pace with the help and guidance of mentors and teachers in the room. This ‘maker empowerment,’ we like to call it, makes kids feel confident in their ability to make, create, build and participate in the world around them.”