Digital Harbor Foundation’s Tech Center in Baltimore has been selected as the host site in the pilot year for Maker Corps’ Maker Education Initiative. The program is sponsored by Cognizant, Intel, O’Reilly, Pixar Animation Studios and the MacArthur Foundation.
The idea of the Maker Corps Maker Education programme is to recruit and prepare makers to serve as mentors and peers in various setups within their communities. The young Maker Corps members bring their own enthusiasm and knowledge about how to learn by doing, and will be trained to teach children in creative projects that develop problem-solving skills in creative ways making science and technology fun.
Maker Corps members have a great opportunity to gain experience of working as a community leader. The Maker Education Initiative will create an online community for Maker Corps where members can exchange information with other members, find more projects to do with kids and share their own experiences.
The inaugural Maker Education Initiative will take place during Spring 2013 and offer 100 youngsters aged 18–22 Maker Corps positions. The training will consist of guest lectures, hands-on projects, discussion of coaching/mentoring techniques, advice on developing projects and interaction with educators and makers. After the training period, the Maker Corps members will be located in paid summer positions with youth-serving organizations in their community.
This is a great initiative for the local area and at 3DPI we look forward to seeing — and reporting on — some of the results through to the end of the year, particularly as and when those youngsters that take part get their hands on a 3D printer.
Source: Digital Harbor Foundation, MakerEd.org
