BKB Education Consulting

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ESSER Funds Change the Game for Digital Makerspaces in Schools

In pre-pandemic times, bringing digital fabrication devices to K-12 classrooms was a challenging process and difficult to fund. Now, however, COVID has opened up an opportunity window of funding that could help seed these technologies in schools, helping students recover from pandemic-related learning loss. The recent passage of bills that provide federal relief funds, ESSER, has the potential to stimulate new educational digital makerspaces at an unprecedented level.

It is not hyperbole to state that the funding arriving at many district’s doors over the coming months is a generational windfall. Apportioned based on the number of Title I eligible students, the relief funds can be up to ten times the normal support given by the federal government. Equally important is the fact that these funds have broad allowability so long as they can be tied to bridging learning gaps caused or exacerbated by the pandemic.

Because of the broad directive to effectively use ESSER funds to help students and schools negatively impacted by the pandemic, districts have wildly different plans for leveraging these funds. Look at ten different districts' plans for investing the ESSER funds, and you will often see ten very different strategies ranging from masks and cleaning supplies to teacher pay supplements to building upgrades.

At this moment of unprecedented challenge and resources, the time has come to make a strategic investment in student learning by bringing widespread implementation of digital fabrication to traditional K-12 education. Why would the purchase of vinyl cutters, 3d printers, laser cutters and the like be a permissible expense under the federal guidance for ESSER funding? Why would digital fabrication be an effective way to help students bridge the many gaps caused by the pandemic? Why is this a better strategy than many of the more traditional expenditures common across the United States? Here are three reasons to bring digital fabrication technologies into formal education right now.

1- These technologies provide an opportunity for all students to show their learning.

Digital fabrication is often sold short as simply being a modern way to make things. It is not. In classrooms, digital fabrication is a modern, efficient and effective way for students to show their learning. Imagine replacing shoe box dioramas with virtual landscapes created via CAD software with the option of being 3d printed. Imagine poster board presentations instead being centered on a large decal designed via Adobe Illustrator and made by a vinyl cutter. Imagine students leveraging both their math, social studies and art skills to create wood engravings of maps illustrating historical events with a laser cutter. Would these new methods detract from curricular learning goals? No. Would they leverage enhanced engagement and encourage the benefits of project based learning in the face of pandemic learning loss? A resounding yes! If student engagement is a vital part of learning acceleration in the wake of the pandemic, it seems bringing elements of digital fabrication into classrooms is a future proof means to that end.

2- Digital design and fabrication learning can extend student learning beyond the classroom. While the focus of the ESSER funds must be on what happens in and around the school day, it does not prevent those investments from having a ripple effect off campus. Knowledge of digital fabrication techniques has this promise. These modern techniques of making are more than just catalysts for learning in the classroom, they can be game changers for empowerment outside the walls of the school. For example, skills learned in making 3d printed cell models in a science classroom are immediately transferable to making 3d printed jewelry outside the classroom. This builds student investment by directly leveraging time spent on learning digital fabrication during the school day towards entrepreneurship, career building and personal growth outside the confines of the instructional day. In many respects, digital fabrication is a modern lemonade stand. It is a bridge from classroom curriculum to career possibilities.

3- Digital makerspaces can have a long lasting impact on a school culture.

Unlike many common uses of ESSER funds, using this generational opportunity to build capacity for digital fabrication in schools is an investment that will have longstanding and visible impact. Converting unused campus spaces into makerspaces and FAB Labs fundamentally changes the paradigm for learning at a school for a decade or longer. Training school staff in digital fabrication techniques encourages equal personal investment in project based learning across the curriculum. Imagine a time that a stroll across campus would bring into sight a whole ecosystem of student digital fabrication projects: custom t-shirts made with help from vinyl cutters; benches and woodworking projects made possible by the CNC machine in the FAB Lab; signage created in design software and published on the school poster printer; 3d printed art, digital displays and so much more.

Leveraging this unprecedented federal stimulus to help students and schools recover from the pandemic is an opportunity that most likely will not recur in our lifetimes. That said, bringing widespread use of digital fabrication to schools can do more than just meet the requirements of the funding, it can be the catalyst for a paradigm shift in how learning is achieved, supported, and shared.

Written by Brian Purvis, Senior Consultant and contributor to eduFAB

I am speaking this weekend at the Tennessee Science Teachers Association Conference. Please join me!

TSTA 2021: Rediscovering the Joy of Teaching Science: Leveraging ESSER funds to create school... View more about this event at TSTA 2021: Rediscovering the Joy of Teaching Science

FAB Lab at STEM School Chattanooga: integrating digital fabrication with instruction

Chattanooga FAB Institute!

Smart schools and systems will harness the latest Federal Stimulus (ESSER) to integrate digital fabrication tools and project based learning into their instructional models. Bringing FAB Labs, maker spaces and tech infused hubs to schools not only augments learning efforts, it future proofs those investments beyond the two year sunset on the funds. Let BKB Education Consulting help you harness the possibilities for your school and district.

Combining the tried and true tenets of Project and Problem Based Learning with the tools of Digital Fabrication empowers students to concurrently design learning artifacts showing mastery of content while garnering technical skills that are at the heart of future proof careers. Laser cutters, vinyl cutters, 3D printers and CNC machines are how smart schools are leveraging cutting edge technology to concurrently impact student's curricular and career goals. It is the swiss army knife for instruction and inspiration. It is the future.

With the prospect of a once in a generation infusion of federal funds for education, school and district investments into harnessing the power of digital fabrication for students is smart money.

BKB Education Consulting specializes in creating custom solutions that range from establishing technology hubs in schools to designing district models around mobile STEAM labs. We can help! Please reach out for a free consultation.

Need a digital fabrication lesson plan that is easily aligned with real world curriculum? Brian is a featured creator on the FAB Foundation's SCOPES-df website, a tech centered lesson clearinghouse. While you are there, check out dozens of curated collections from some of the best "makers" in the world.

Brian Purvis – SCOPES Digital Fabrication Brian is the former Manager of Instruction for the GE Brilliant Career Lab, a curriculum centered mobile FAB Lab that served Boston area public high schools.  Previously he led the Gilbert Innovation Hub, where he leveraged his 18 years as a public school STEM educator to open an integrated maker s...

The goal of every student experience in education should be immersion. Learning a concept is too often settled on as the expected outcome of an instructional interaction. This unhinges the concept from how it is leveraged in the real world to propel discovery, creation and the shaping of events. We must not allow students to view their education as a collection of facts and skills rather than the catalyst which allows them to change their world.

The challenge of placing students in the position to not just learn content, but USE content to discover, create and shape the world around them has always been at the heart of my teaching. Over the past few years, I have partnered with schools and teachers to supercharge student immersion in content in three specific models: school immersion hubs, district mobile labs and challenge centered classrooms.

Please join me over the coming weeks as I post about these models and share ways in which BKB Education Consulting can help to leverage them to bring instructional immersion to your school and community.