What's happening in Maker Education 2025-2026
Please share your experiences as a maker educator this year so all of us have a better sense of what's been happening
The 2025-2026 school year has either wrapped up or is about to wrap up for educators. Before you head out for the summer, would you take a few minutes to share your thoughts and experiences as a maker educator over the past school year? I’d like to hear from you and learn how the year went for you.
The biggest reason I support maker education is that I see how it benefits kids. Given access to tools and expertise, and the time to make something based on their own ideas and interests, student can build confidence in their own capabilities and see themselves as a good learner. That’s really valuable, especially when we have educators telling their story.
Integrating maker education into schools can be difficult but many of you have figured out how to do it. And you do it not because it is required of you but because you also see its benefits for kids, and especially for kids who struggle in school. Thank you for what you do.
Please accept this invitation to share in your own words what worked and what didn’t in or out of school and working with kids in a makerspace. Use the comments section below so others can read your comments.
I hope you have time to enjoy the summer and you get to make something that you really enjoy.
Loved this reflection, Dale! One tool that's been quietly great for the 'I can make something' moment: Cubie (cubie.one) — a browser editor for designing articulated print-in-place toys. Kids build characters block by block, joints are placed automatically, model comes off the printer already moving. No CAD, no setup. Kids design their own character in one sitting and walk away with a physical moving toy — fits perfectly into 'access to tools + time to make something based on their own ideas'
The biggest game changer this year has been investing in the ChompSaw. I’ve been diverging into more low-tech, cardboard-centric projects for my young learners and my students have been so much more creative with the new tool!