A1-  

I like www.eie.org. They have great “after-school” activities that can be accomplished in 6 sessions or so. They run really well in my STEM classes.

Twitter is a phenomenal resource that helps funnel me into other resources. For example, Twitter helped me find A.J. Juliani and John Spencer for ideas like the #marschallenge and #GeniusHour which has hugely ramped up the PBL and design thinking process in my classes.

As far as materials go, I’m a big fan of The Extraordinaires Design Studio. It is a quick, fun, sandbox approach disguised as a game for students to dabble in empathy and creativity. If you order online, you may still be able to get 50% off their Deluxe edition by entering coupon code EXTEDU. Check out www.extraordinaires.com for more info.

I also love Makey Makey. For $50 per kit, the students can connect real world objects to any computer and control games, music, etc. on the Internet. Incredibly simple way to make inventions across the curriculum. For more of what tools/resources I use in my labs, message me on Twitter @pburgstem!

A2-  

My thoughts on that are here: http://worlds-of-learning.com/2016/10/26/what-constitutes-making/

A3- 

Here are some ideas you might enjoy incorporating in your makerspace: http://bsmslibratory.weebly.com/makerspace.html and http://www.slimemakerexpo.com/activities.html

A4- 

If you’re on Twitter, I would definitely search #MakerEd – a lot of educator projects/spaces will show up. The Fablearn book, Meaningful Making (available as a hard copy for purchase or free pdf) is packed with ideas and examples, as is Josh Burker’s Invent to Learn: Guide to Fun. Colleen Graves, a maker librarian, has several books and an excellent blog as well.

A5-

3D Printing seems to be a staple in every makerspace that allows design and expression to excel with ‘less mess’.    Cardboard and LEGOs are my core mediums for physical expressions.  Scratch and TinkerCAD as a starter for virtual expressions.