Category Archives: innovation

innovation

Over 750 attend the first Aiken K-12 Maker Faire at the University of Vermont

Contact:
Abby Peterson, Hagan Associates
apeterson@haganmarketing.com
802-863-5956 x211
November 23, 2015

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Over 750 attend the first Aiken K-12 Maker Faire at the University of Vermont

Noahs_fizzy_lemonadeBurlington, Vt. – The creators of the Champlain Mini Maker Faire and the University of Vermont hosted Vermont’s first statewide K-12 Maker Faire at the Davis Center on Saturday. Embedded in the event was the annual Aiken/TASC Engineering Challenge, presented by UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.

Visit the event website

K-12 students and families browsed Maker and engineering exhibits, participated in programs and workshops and cheered on the students participating in the TASC Engineering Challenge.tasc

Team Brothers in Arms from Hanover High School were the winners of the TASC Challenge. Over 30 teams from schools around the region competed with the “robots” they created on 3 playing fields to move game pieces (golf, lacrosse and tennis balls) to specific zones in a 36″ x 72″ area.

Exhibits included Robots for Kids Too, the Champlain Region Model Rocket Club, the Essex Robotics Club, the 10 and 12-year-old creators of an award winning ebaconline.com.br - curso figma online, and 11-year-old entrepreneur Noah Schwartz with his product, Noah’s Fizzy Maple Lemonade. Noah won the FreshTracks Capital Road Pitch at the 2015 Champlain Mini Maker Faire. The Northern New England Drone User Group offered drone-piloting lessons as well.

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UVM had representatives from the Fab Lab and the student-run Alternative Energy Racing Organization. AERO designs and builds either a hybrid or all electric racecar to compete in Dartmouth’s annual Formula Hybrid Competition. The UVM Fab Lab showed 3D printed prosthetic hands made as part of the e-NABLE project.

Event organizer Jenn Karson says this is a first of its kind Maker Faire that she was thrilled to pair with UVM’s TASC Challenge.

“This event was a great way to highlight the amazing creative and engineering projects being taken on by K-12 students, educators and groups. It was a perfect fit with the TASC Challenge.”

small_makerMaker Faire events across the United States celebrate the DIY movement. Maker projects may involve robotics, re-purposing found objects, textile innovation, circuitry, unusual or custom tools, design, architecture and/or engineering. These events provide opportunities to make, create, learn and play while exploring engineering, music, science, technology, and more.

CEMS is committed to increasing the participation of K-12 Students in STEM education. In addition to the Aiken K-12 Maker Faire and TASC Challenge, CEMS outreach programs include the GIV Engineering Institute, MathCounts, FIRST Robotics and more. CEMS also provides professional development for teachers through the Vermont Math Initiative and the Vermont Engineering Initiative.

 

innovation

Vermont’s first statewide K-12 Maker Faire at UVM

K12-UVM_Poster-2015-webWHAT: Aiken K-12 Maker Faire and TASC Engineering Challenge

WHO: K-12 students and educators will share their engineering and creative projects with the public

WHEN:Saturday, November 21, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: University of Vermont, Davis Center 590 Main Street, Burlington VT 05401

Background: The creators of the Champlain Mini Maker Faire and the University of Vermont will host Vermont’s first statewide K-12 Maker Faire at UVM’s Davis Center. Embedded in the event will be the annual Aiken/TASC Engineering Challenge, presented by UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.

K-12 students and families are invited to browse maker and engineering exhibits, participate in programs and workshops and to cheer on students participating in the Aiken/TASC Engineering Challenge. The day includes opportunities to make, create, learn and play while exploring engineering, music, science, technology, and more.

Admission is free for the whole family!

For more information please visit http://www.uvm.edu/k12MakerFaire

innovation

Aiken K-12 Maker Faire!

Aiken K-12 Maker Faire

When: Saturday, November 21, 2015
Where: UVM’s Davis Center
What: This event is for K-12 students, teachers, parents and education support makers to exhibit and attend.  Part of the event will include the TASC Engineering Challenge which will run most of the day.  To learn more about the TASC Challenge and the Aiken K-12 Maker Faire, go to: http://www.uvm.edu/~cems/TASC/ .

This event is a partnership between UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and Champlain Maker Faire.  Great opportunity to promote your projects and programs.

To register to exhibit, click here. Deadline: November 12, 2015.

innovation

Creating a Nation of Makers

maker_faire_976x490Here’s a Message from MakeSchools.org:

Our Commitments to Making

Responding to the President’s call to action to create a Nation of Makers, and as part of a White House event kicking off the National Week of Making, the MakeSchools Higher Education Alliance is announcing renewed support for Making by universities, institutions around the nation!

In a joint letter to President Obama, universities, schools and colleges around the nation have pledged their support for Making.  We are doing this by investing in Makerspaces that are accessible to students across the campus, or serving as “anchor tenants” for commercially-operated Makerspaces; expanding access to university shared facilities and scientific instrumentation to Makers; allowing students that are applying for admission to our institutions to submit their Maker portfolio; supporting research, education, and service-learning that is relevant to Making, such as the development of new tools for desktop manufacturing, or encouraging students to serve as mentors for young Makers; and participating in regional efforts to create a vibrant Maker ecosystem that involve companies, investors, skilled volunteers, state and local officials, libraries, museums, schools, after-school programs, labor unions, and community-based organizations.

See our commitments to Making in the compiled commitment packet and letter to President Obama from the higher education community

State of Making Report

Further responding to the President’s call, the MakeSchools Higher Education Alliance has prepared a “State of Making” report that summarizes outcomes from 40 higher education institutions around the nation who contributed profiles of their engagement with Making. Using this information, this landscape analysis of Making in U.S. higher education explores the institutional perspectives on and support for Maker culture, and in particular the approaches to education, community engagement, and campus resource now being explored on American  campuses.

Recommendations for next steps by the Maker Education Alliance include development of clear definitions, metrics, and assessment standards to better understand and monitor student, program, and institutional success for Making activities and spaces; expand industry, community and K-12 partnerships; consider an institution-wide or even national “grand challenge” focus for Making activities; and share best practices and success stories among diverse institutions and higher education sectors.

Read the State of Making Report now

MakeSchools.org – a community resource

Over the passt twelve months, we’ve worked with amazing universities, art and design schools, and community colleges around the nation who are committed to promoting Maker education and empowering a new generation of Makers — both within their institutions and out to their communities. Thanks to their effort, input and collaboration, MakeSchools.org reflects the exciting ways in which institutions around the nation are fostering new Makers.

Each participating institution has profiled their engagement through five carefully crafted 10-question surveys. These cover the the institutional perspective and support for Maker culture; projects and exemplars outcomes; leading campus Makers; Makerspaces available on their campuses; and courses which train new Makers. Collectively these profiles assemble a rich picture the range of ways that Making is approached in US campus. They are intended not just to provide visibility and transparency to the ways US schools are engaged in and supporting Making, but also to serve as a community resource to share best practice. This content is assembled as a publicly assessable and free resource online at MakeSchools.org

Now in the Week of Making, we’d like to recognize their contribution in helping to coordinate to advance our shared agendas in the higher education Makers-community. Through the content, conversation and community developed around MakeSchools, we hope to find incredible new ways to support campus Makers, increase K-12 and industry pipelines for students as well as enhance access and inclusion in higher education experiences and opportunities through Making, in fields ranging from the arts to manufacturing. These goals align well with the President’s goals–helping Makers launch new businesses and create jobs, dramatically expanding the number of students that have the opportunity to become Makers, and challenging Makers to pressing problems.

We invite you to explore MakeSchools.org

Find us at the National Maker Faire

On June 12th-13th, 2015, Makers from across the United States will convene in Washington, DC—to celebrate Making at the inaugural National Maker Faire. Occurring at the beginning of the “Week of Making” on June 12-13, 2015, the celebration gives curious, inventive people a place to share what they love to make.

MakeSchools will be at the Faire showing student work from CMU, Case Western and Bucknell. Join us on Saturday at 4pm for a talk about the Higher Ed Alliance, the state of Making report, and to hear the winners of our recent student competition “Making Impact”.

Find out more

Find out more about higher education and the Week of Making by visiting our microsite at: http://makeschools.org/weekofmaking

And if you or your institution is organizing or participating in higher ed. related events for the Week of Making, please let us know so we can include them on the site!