With well regarded schools and a recent ranking as the second most inventive city in the US, the city of Fremont has the ingredients of a thriving Maker Education scene. Yet a quick scan of the official Maker Education clubs in the nine Bay Area counties shows that out of the 40 listed sites, none are located in Fremont. Why is this? Let’s examine the importance of “Maker Ed” and ideas for better integrating this movement into our city and the K-12 curriculum.

First, it may help to describe the Maker Movement, which gained momentum after the first Maker Faire was held in San Mateo in 2006. Makers create, build, and invent things by using tools such as robotics, 3-D printing, electronics, soldering irons, arts and crafts, etc. Since many tools are now available to consumers that once were once only found in factories, people have the freedom to “manufacture” at the individual level. The Maker movement is similar to the DIY scene, though it often includes STEM fields in addition to art (which changes the acronym to STEAM). I consider the “Art” to be a crucial element because it brings in the creativity, the self-expression, and the “thinking out of the box” to the process that can lead to more innovative outcomes and deeper learning.

Maker Education brings these same types of projects to young people, helping them to learn through hands-on, self-directed projects. This approach can inspire children in subjects such as science, taking them beyond abstract knowledge, and providing concrete learning experiences. Simply put, building things can be incredibly fun and engaging for young makers. It also helps students to synthesize and understand multiple subjects in more complex ways than they could get from, for example, a worksheet. While making things with our hands has become much less commonplace than it used to be, activities such as taking machines apart and tinkering with materials provides a valuable foundation for many fields such as engineering and architecture.

The act of creating concrete objects is essentially a problem solving process, and so learning how to find solutions is another nice outcome of Maker Education. Maker Education often goes hand in hand with teaching students to use “Design Thinking”. This framework helps formalize the problem solving and creative processes used in Maker Education. It is used as a tool in many real world settings, for example, in urban planning. Stanford’s business school has a course in Design Thinking to help executives learn the steps to being innovative. Learning Design Thinking can promote some useful skills in students of all ages, such as learning to collaborate with others, brainstorm solutions, provide feedback, create prototypes, among other real world skills.

The MakerMovement seems to be surging in popularity, with even the Whitehouse holding a Maker Faire in June of last year. As new Maker summer camps, clubs, and afterschool programs form throughout the Bay Area, I am hopeful to find one close enough that my son can attend. Given Fremont’s emphasis on clean technology and advanced manufacturing, I look forward to supporting efforts to bring our City’s unique flavor to Maker Education. With new plans for expansion of Fremont’s Innovation District in Warm Springs, now is the time to lay the groundwork for tomorrow’s workforce.