Tag: STEAM

  • Is playing pinball the new science class? We think so.

    Is playing pinball the new science class? We think so.

    [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]

    While schools scramble to adapt to remote learning, Generator’s Design Lab program finds creative ways to bring hands-on STEAM skills to students.

    [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”1″ divider_color=”default”][divider line_type=”No Line”][divider line_type=”No Line”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]In late summer, while schools were on standby and waiting to see what might happen with Vermont’s COVID numbers, Generator’s outreach team was busy considering ways we could pivot out programming. Our hope was to keep Generator’s connection to our local and regional youth who are eager for hands-on, experiential educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”10217″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]Unsure how the year would go and how much to invest in hands-on offerings that might quickly be shut down, or might not be possible in the first place, we needed to be prepared to pivot easily.

    How could be obtain hands-on, STEAM initiatives via Google classroom and still create a buzz or influence students we’ve never met? [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”10216″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]The answer: PinBox 3000. The customizable, build-it-yourself, cardboard pinball machine.

    Generator and PinBox 3000 teamed up to bring Generator’s Design Lab to classrooms around Vermont– and in the comfort of students’ own home. [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”10269″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]In early 2015, Pete Talbot and Ben T. Matchstick became Generator Makers-in-Residence (now our Artist in Residence program) in order to further develop and prototype their product, PinBox 3000.  By the end of their 2-month residency their business was launched and the rest is history! Read their story here.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”10270″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]Bringing this story full circle, Generator is excited to team up with PinBox 3000 and provide students with endless opportunities in creating, designing, prototyping, electrifying and advancing a pinball game of their own design.  [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”1″ divider_color=”default”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]

    Design Lab is one of Generator’s educational and outreach programs inspiring learners of all ages to explore and innovate in the sciences, arts, and in entrepreneurship.

    Our programs are made possible by supports like you!

    You can support Generator by giving a gift today.

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  • Maker in Residence: Colin Gaunt

    Maker in Residence: Colin Gaunt

    Meet our current Maker in Residence: Colin Gaunt.

    Colin Gaunt Sipping Safe Maker in Residence

    Colin is a recent Saint Michael’s College grad developing an affordable, portable device using ultra-efficient LED technology to disinfect water on an individual or family-sized scale.

    From Saint Michael’s:

    “Gaunt said the market niche he is trying to fill with the Sipping Safe is ‘a family unit essentially,’ explaining, ‘there already are products that can give water to 1,000 people really well or to one person fairly well, but there isn’t a product that can give water to a family of 6 to 12 without a plumbing network of some kind.’ His device would not need to be pressurized like many existing devices, which is another big advantage. ‘I’m thinking of any developing nation or city that doesn’t have access to a steady plumbing system,’ he said.”

    Colin Gaunt Maker in Residence Sipping Safe

    Colin is also a Jump Start Collegiate cohort member, so he’s been spending a lot of time here making his first prototype using the Prusa 3D printer and Epilog laser cutter. Next step? Make the thing! 

    Follow along on Instagram to see Colin’s progress.

  • SPARK empowers Vermont’s lost Einsteins

    SPARK empowers Vermont’s lost Einsteins

    A 2017 article in The Atlantic titled, “America’s Lost Einsteins,” by Alana Semuels, focuses on the economic disparity of who gets to invent — and how that affects us all.

    Semuels found that “…if women, minorities, and children from low- and middle-income families invented at the same rate as white men from high-income families, there would be four times as many inventors in America as there are today.”

     

    The Winooski High School SPARK team does some research.

    More inventors mean more innovation, and more innovation means more people are contributing to the broader social good, including a thriving economy.

    Stunningly, researchers found that “if girls were as exposed to female inventors as boys are to male inventors, the gender gap between male and female inventors would fall by half.”

    Generator’s solution? SPARK.

    Our SPARK program engages women and gender non-conforming students in the STEM fields — that’s science, technology, engineering, and math — through a year-long design-thinking process to develop, prototype, and pitch an invention.

    Spaulding High School (Barre) students show off laser cut live binding journals they made in a workshop where they learned how to use Adobe Illustrator and the Epilog laser cutter.

    SPARK’s focus is to expose students to careers in the STEM fields with long-term mentor relationships, ongoing exposure to advanced tools and technology, and by experiencing failure in a supportive and collaborative environment.

    “School doesn’t teach you that failing is part of learning,” Program Director Rachel Hooper said, “Students get this false idea that success is a polished thing that only smart people achieve when in reality those ‘successful’ people had more opportunities, they had support, and they still probably experienced a lot of failures before they became successful.”

    The team from LUND Center participates in a wearable electronics workshop with Generator member and educator Jill Dawson and learns about basic wiring and electronics.

    Hooper set out to design an ambitious program. She partnered with Connie Liu, founder of Project Invent, using their curriculum to shape a program that uses design-thinking and physical computing to create new technologies that solve problems that affect their communities.

    “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving,” Hooper explained, “It’s an iterative design process in which teams design with community members to solve their problems by empathizing with their needs. Students learn to test their ideas prototypically and bring their designs back to the community member for testing and feedback throughout the process.”

    At the SPARK kick-off event, teams participated in fun exercises like the Spaghetti Tower Challenge to warm up their design-thinking, team-working, and problem-solving skills.

    Generator partnered with Winooski High School, Spaulding High School in Barre, and the Lund Center. Each institution had students facing different barriers.

    “There are very large gaps in innovation by income, race, and gender,” Hooper said. “Most young people are not being shown these kinds of STEM pathways and they are not seeing themselves represented in the STEM community. When young women are invited to the world of design and invention and shown that other women are building their careers in the STEM fields they can create a pathway for themselves.”

    Education and Outreach Director Rachel Hooper facilitates a brainstorming session for the Spaulding High School team.

    SPARK started in fall 2018. Rachel met with teams once each week, usually at their schools, to brainstorm project ideas. The teams worked in consensus to conceive of and refine their project ideas.

    The team from Spaulding High School is developing a concussion tracking field kit for nurses and athletic coaches to track student-athletes’ brain health throughout their high school experience. Collecting this data could change the way schools help students recover after a concussion.

    Because it’s a design-thinking process, the team’s first task was to meet with people who had experience with concussions so that they could listen and design with an end-user in mind.

    Some ideas from one of the SPARK teams.

    The Spaulding Team was able to meet with a Generator member who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI), as well as a person who runs a TBI support group at UVM.

    Through these meetings, the Spaulding High SPARK team learned that simply recognizing a concussion was a challenge, so the team shifted gears; instead of designing a product for concussion relief, the team set out to develop a concussion identification field kit for school nurses and coaches.

    With their product ideas in mind and on paper, the SPARK teams started meeting at Generator to begin prototyping.

    Madison (left) and Stephie (right) of the Winooski SPARK team work on prototypes in Generator’s conference room.

    “I went into this new environment, Generator, and it stimulated me to work harder,” said Madison, a senior at Winooski High School. “There were lots of tools, and we were in this board meeting room with glass doors… it made me feel more important and like I was actually doing something helpful for people.”

    First, the students worked with art materials and cardboard to sculpt their prototypes. Soon, they’ll learn how to design in Illustrator and other computer programs to create prototypes with the laser cutter, the 3D printer, and in the electronics lab.

    Prototypes from one of the SPARK teams.

    Once the prototype is made, the next step is to have their subjects test their inventions. “We’re making assumptions,” Stephie, a sophomore at Winooski High School explained, “Now we need to get into the reality and see if this is really working, and if it’s not, our goal is to find something else that works better.”

    So is SPARK working?

    “Since I’m a senior and I’m about to graduate I am thinking of careers and stuff,” said Madison, “Ever since SPARK my eyes have been opened to inventing.”

    Madison went on to say that she’s hoping to spend more time at Generator. “I’m excited to figure out how to make more things with sensors.”

    Stephie of the Winooski High School SPARK team shows off her prototype for a heart rate monitor necklace that helps the wearer monitor stress.

    Program Director Rachel Hooper isn’t surprised. “The traditional thinking is that you need to be good at math and science and you have to have four years of undergrad AND an advanced degree to enter a STEM field,” she said. “Makerspaces change that.”

    Stay tuned for more from SPARK.

     

  • Dealer.com & Generator Brings Maker Education to Vermont Students

    Dealer.com & Generator Brings Maker Education to Vermont Students

    Dealer.com and Generator are launching: Design Lab innovative STEM workshops for 7th-12th grade students. Working closely with area teachers Generator has developed programming that offers students unique hands-on learning experiences that focus on collaboration, prototyping, and flexible thinking. Rachel Hooper, Director of Community Outreach at Generator says, “I see maker education as a way to engage all kinds of learners in STEM, especially those who have struggled with science or math, by exposing them to a new kind of creative problem-solving.”

    Design Lab workshops start with design thinking, a creative problem-solving method that embraces human-centered design. Students work with design thinking specialist in the classrooms to design projects. When it’s time to prototype, students head to Generator where they will build and test their projects. Hooper says, “Students drive the design process and our maker educators guide them while teaching them how to use tools such as laser cutters, 3D printers, and other CNC tools.” When projects are collaborative, the opportunity to unite around a choice-filled creative project often helps students who had previously struggled to work in groups.

    Design Lab itself is an iteratively developed program. “This is our pilot year and we will be observing, testing and improving our offerings as we move forward,” Hooper says. Featured workshops for the year include:

    • Parklet with Purpose – Collaborating with Winooski School’s iLab and Burlington Parks and Recreation the Design Lab team will help students create a mini-park inside a parking space for Winooski residents.
    • Marble Run – What does it take to make a gigantic marble run? Middle school students learn prototyping skills as they design and build a gigantic marble run.
  • Generator Rolls Out New Opportunities With Marble Coasters

    Generator Rolls Out New Opportunities With Marble Coasters

    [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) hosts a free annual summer camp for youths of refugee and recent migrant families. This year, 12 VRRP youth visited Generator with CEDO AmeriCorps team members, Saylia Moo and Elizabeth to see STEM concepts in action. Generator’s AmeriCorps Outreach Associate, Jon Weisbecker, led a marble coaster workshop exploring how makers prototype, collaborate and fabricate ideas into reality. By the end of their time,  students minds were racing as fast at the marble coasters. One student said, “This was awesome! I really want to come back here and create a portable weightlifting system. When can we come back?” Others hope to return to use the woodshop and laser cutter down the road. Generator is looking forward to expanding programming to serve refugee and recent immigrant families.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”5666″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Middle Schoolers Rock Out Their Rockers At Generator

    Middle Schoolers Rock Out Their Rockers At Generator

    [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][heading]Middle Schoolers Rock Out Their Rockers At Generator[/heading][vc_column_text]Edmunds and Hunt Middle School are having their summer school program join Generator for a week-long Chair Design Workshop. Gaining inspiration from past designers, such as Charles and Ray Eames and Jean Prouvé, students will imagine, prototype and build their own chairs from a  single piece of plywood. Making furniture requires skills in design, planning, and fabrication. Students will work with talented artists and designers to learn how to blueprint, use adobe illustrator, and laser cut their creations to reality. The first session of the Chair Design Workshop is launching July 30th to August 3rd, dedicated to women’s education. Students will learn how to use the laser cutter to prototype their chair in cardboard. The final product will be laser cut plywood, hardware independent chair, painted or stained with a finish of their choice. The plywood chairs will be utilized in students’ schools; so they can share their final products with friends, family, and future persons.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”5638″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Design Thinking- Fail Faster to Succeed Sooner

    Design Thinking- Fail Faster to Succeed Sooner

    [vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][heading]YES Program at Generator[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]Generator is helping Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) and Burlington High School (BHS) give 18 students the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship and different career paths through a design thinking workshop on Friday, June 1st.  High school is the time to try different fields and start a career. That can be a daunting task if you don’t know what you want to do. Burlington High School Year End Studies (YES) program offers all students of the BHS community exciting alternatives for learning. These non-traditional courses expand student understanding and inspire new student interests. Generator will be guiding students through prototyping exercises that encourage failing fast to succeed sooner. Intensive, interest-driven opportunities like the design thinking workshop enhance enthusiasm for learning.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”5586″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Making Connections with the Maker Community

    Making Connections with the Maker Community

    Create Make Learn Blog>>

    March 10: Making Connections with the Maker Community

    Meet Carrie Speranza, librarian, and Jenny Jacobson, art educator, at the Swanton School, Swanton, Vermont –  two educators who are masters are making connections to bring more opportunities to their students.

    This year, Carrie and Jen ended up spending hours making connections with community makers at The Generator (a community maker space in Burlington, Vermont)  and building their skills as maker educators as the 2017 IGNITE a MAKER team.  
    IGNITE a MAKER is an opportunity offered through the Create Make Learn community  for educators to spend a few months as members of a community maker space  where they have access to prototyping tools such as laser cutters, 3D printers,  and CNC machines along with other tools and resources.  During that time, the Generator has invited them to  take classes that build their skills using these maker tools.  This has provided  Jenny and Carrie the opportunity to make connections with an amazing community of makers who are always willing to help the IGNITE a  MAKER maker educators leverage access to maker tools  to level up projects for their classroom.
    Though they have tackled several projects, Jenny and Carrie have primarily focused on working with a product called Touch Board from Bare Conductive to create an Interactive Mural of their student’s personal research project. The Touch Board contains 12 electrodes and can trigger sounds though its MP3 player. A perfect device to create an Interactive Mural Board.
    Using the Touch Board, Carrie and Jenny worked with  their sixth grade students to create an interactive mural board, allowing them to present their passion projects in an innovative and creative way. The Touchboard is the heart of their projects. It allows the sixth graders to record short segments about their projects, which are played at the touch of a button (or a star!). The device is similar to a Makey Makey but programmed using a mini SD card and works with conductive paint. YES conductive paint!

    Here is their Journey as IGNITE a Maker Educator and bringing back new skills to their classroom.

    Jenny working with the Touch Board for the first time. Sometimes you just have to dive into the unknown. Tinker away!
     
    After becoming familiar with the Touch Board and taking a certification class on the laser cutter,  Carrie and Jenny cut out their students’ board designs using the laser cutter at the Generator. The students created their design using Inkscape, however once it was time to cut it out, it was much easier to put it into Adobe Illustrator prior to sending it to the laser cutter. After working out some of the design flaws and getting some advice from another Generator member, the boards were successfully cut out.
     
     
    The Generator’s Laser Cutter!
    After some test cuts with cardboard (and some minor fires- note: always stay an arms distance away from your laser cutter and watch it!), they successfully cut out a final product on ⅛” plywood.
    Once the physical boards were cut it was time to program the Touch Boards. The students used Voice Recorder on their Chromebooks to create audio files giving short snippets of information about their projects.
    Next, they used stencils and conductive paint to create the connections on their boards. Although each Touch Board is able to support 12 touch points, the students only painted 5 to allow some room for error.
    Now that the connections are painted, the students will finish recording their audio clips, and attach the Touch Boards to their laser cut pieces. The final result will be an interactive mural which allows for the audience to engage in learning in a different and exciting way!
    They will be sharing their interactive mural with the maker community and educational community this spring.
  • At Generator’s First Global Service Jam, Design Happened

    At Generator’s First Global Service Jam, Design Happened

    At Generator’s First Global Service Jam, Design Happened

    By 

  • Create Make Learn Summer Institute Kicks off at Generator

    Create Make Learn Summer Institute Kicks off at Generator

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    Create Make Learn Summer Institute
    Kicks off at Generator

    Photos and Videos

     

    There has been a lot of foot traffic, excitement, and LEARNING at Generator. Generator member, Lucie deLaBruere, has a mission to change the landscape of learning in today’s schools to include more hands-on minds-on learnings.  Trends in maker-education provide the perfect opportunity for this instructional shift and the Generator provided the perfect place for teachers to experience the shift themselves last week at the Create Make Learn Summer Institute.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”4572″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”3/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]Within minutes of arriving, Vermont maker educators,  Shannon Walters and Caty Wolfe were helping educators use the tools in their new tool boxes or around the Generator to gear up for the week of making. personalizing their toolboxes with vinyl and laser cut pieces, creating idea journals using power tools to assemble laser cut chipboard covers and more.

    Soon Sarah Sutter (maker educator from New American School in Japan) and Wes Fryer (maker educator from Oklahoma City) lead the group of a fun Goosechase as a way to learn more maker-ed terminology and better understand the Generator as a Makerspace.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17Pt9UrLGk3rEUCLeLFmANePNIbh9-ZxFsy10-8JV6ds/edit#slide=id.g24b97ea460_0_11[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][image_with_animation image_url=”4576″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]

    The morning ended with a warm welcome from Michael Metz and Karen Cornish. The afternoon kicked off a series of over 30 workshops spread across the Generator, Champlain Maker Space, RETN designed to help educators better understand new materials and new processes for helping students learn through creating and making.  Throughout the week,  educators increased their confidence with circuits and coding,  created with cardboard, made movies,   cut with CNC routers and laser cutters, and created models for 3D printers.

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    They were inspired by the work of members hanging in studios as well as conversations and mentoring sessions with mentors from the Generator community including  Mel Pulley who demonstrated welding, Ben Colbourn who shared his CNC expertise, Jake Blend who showed up a Raspberry Pi, Jill Dawson sharing her expertise with advanced circuitry, Eric sharing tips on advanced vinyl application,  and Jim Shields who lead two laser certification classes.

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    The concept of Making Community continued, as Generator members learned about finishing 3D prints from Maker Artist Educator Rodney Batschelet and acrylic bending techniques from a strip heater that we made locally and that is now available for Generator members.

    By Friday, the group had moved on to Echo Leahy Center where they had a chance to reflect on their learning throughout the week as they planned next steps for their practice as newly empowered maker educators.  But the week did not end without a few educators coming back to fill out new membership forms.

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    The Generator received high marks as a location for this type of powerful learning.

    “I loved having the generator as the site. It was awesome to see the generator members projects and be able to talk to them. The additional evening activities were a definite bonus.”

    “… the new generator and the Champlain Makerspace are awesome. Great location and facilities!”

    “It was inspiring to see what is happening at the Generator, the Champlain College spaces, and at ECHO.”

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