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Bellwood-Antis celebrates ‘low-tech maker space’

BELLWOOD — Although it has been up and running since October, Bellwood-Antis School Board members Tuesday celebrated the recently completed Imagination Zone at Myers Elementary School.

The Imagination Zone is a “low-tech maker space,” said Terri Harpster, school principal.

“This is where students repurpose materials to make anything they can imagine. While most of the materials are low-tech at this point, we do have littleBits circuitry materials for elementary age students and programmable robots,” Harpster said.

“It is like a culminating activity where the students take basic knowledge given by their instructor and apply it in new and creative ways,” Superintendent Thomas McInroy said.

Bellwood-Antis administrators developed the idea after touring maker spaces at Elizabeth Forward School District in Allegheny County, where students were deeply engaged in the hands-on learning the spaces offer.

“The concept of maker space has been around quite awhile. However, it has just been the last few years in which educators are realizing the power of the maker movement. At Bellwood-Antis, the administrators, the school board, many teachers and the foundation recognize that in order for our students to succeed beyond high school, they need to be able to imagine, create and innovate in order to contribute to a global economy,” Harpster said. “We want our students to have the same opportunities as students from larger communities and wealthier school districts.”

Harpster said students get to engage in authentic making, which requires collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and communication. She said students learn about the engineering process because they develop a plan to solve a problem or respond to a challenge, design, test and then redesign.

“Our students’ first challenge in Imagination Zone was to design and build a dog house for their grade-level stuffed dog. This year our students have made state floats, designed boats, windmills, parachutes, a Sioux Indian village and a base to hold a basketball,” Harpster said.

The Bellwood-Antis Imagination Zone cost $3,000 to $4,000, much of it covered by the district’s fundraising education foundation.

“The generosity of the B-A Foundation and Danny and Crystal Himes provided the funding to get Imagination Zone open this year. We have plans to open a second high-tech maker space at Myers for next school year,” Harpster said. “What is most exciting about the maker movement in Bellwood-Antis is that we are just getting started. If we can imagine it, we will make it.”

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.

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