MAKERSPACE/Art Studio days with Ms. Amie McRoberts has become a huge hit at Saipan International School. Thursday and Fridays in art class are dedicated to Makerspace/Art Studio days. On these days, the students have the freedom to apply the skills and techniques they have learned throughout the year in Art to create their own art. The Art Room is open to explore!
The students worked very hard to create decorations for Christmas in the Marianas Christmas tree and village this year. They knew the money that we would win would go back directly to the Art Studio. (Up to this point Makerspace/Art Studio days were mainly spent creating with donated recycled materials and donated building materials/toys.) The prize money received went to buying Legos, magnetic tiles, marble run sets, paint pens, and so much more.
It is impossible for the students not to use all of the 4 C’s: critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creative thinking during Makerspace/Art studio time. As eduporium.com would put it, “Through their makerspace experiences, students can learn the value of persistence, invention, and collaboration as well as how thinking critically helps drive these innovative solutions. Perhaps most significantly, it’s those elements of real-world relevance that make school makerspaces so important.”
They love challenging each other to build stronger and better marble courses or new creatures with the Legos. A new favorite is using the paint pens to paint on blocks to make the newest “Banana and Cherry phones”; they then can be seen walking around the room “taking pictures” on their new phones, of their classmates’ new creations.
The students have already started creating a new shopping list for next year’s earnings. They all are so grateful for the donations from the Marianas Visitors Authority’s Christmas in the Marianas annual event and look forward to participating again next year.
On Makerspace/Art Studio days, Saipan International School students apply the art skills and techniques they have learned to create their own art.