Are we on the verge of a maker-powered manufacturing renaissance?

From creativity and expression to job training and entrepreneurship, maker learning is what you make of it.

Supporting the Maker Movement is one way to bring back economic growth, manufacturing ecosystems, and decent blue-collar jobs. So say the Brookings Institution’s Mark Muro and Peter Hirshberg, in “Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities.”

Student groups can enter the FilmMAKER challenge until March 24.

Whether maker education is old hat or brand new, we could all use inspiration as school starts up again and the weather traps everyone inside.

Cities gather in Washington, DC to trade insights on efforts to enhance municipal recreation centers with maker and tech-enhanced learning

Resources encompass more than pricey gadgets and materials. Embracing a broad definition of resourcefulness can promote equity in the maker movement.

Though the maker movement is often associated with things like 3D printers and circuits, it is really a fusion of newly accessible technology with old ideas about how we learn best. Maker projects, whether they're "egg cars" or homemade boats, stick in our memories not simply because they are fun. Getting lost in the challenge of making something work—something you care about—is a learning experience that sticks with kids and, it turns out, adults.

Fashion design is a natural companion to the maker and STEAM movements. It calls for risk, creativity, and technical precision, and there is plenty of the latter when it comes to e-fashion.

Many formal learning institutions are eager to integrate making into their curriculum, but lack the necessary funding, space, or professional development. The Kickstarting Making in Schools project aims to remedy this by helping schools develop, implement, and fundraise for maker projects.

One national initiative is bringing maker education to as many kids as possible. A partnership between the nonprofit Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) and AmeriCorps VISTA places volunteers at sites that provide maker opportunities for young learners.

The mobility of technology makes for ideal learning tools. Maker materials can be wheeled into libraries, cafes, churches, parks, and any number of accessible community spaces.

Seems everyone is a cheerleader for the maker movement these days, from President Obama to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Who isn’t in favor of more self-directed, hands-on learning projects; cupcake cars; or kids working with old-fashioned looms? That’s why—for a lot of maker-oriented folks browsing the internet late last January—Debbie Chachra’s “Why I Am Not a […]

On any typical day in the MAKESHOP at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, kids and families are woodworking, tinkering with circuits, and crafting cardboard swords and shields. But nestled in the corner of the bustling workshop is the trusty stalwart of the space: the four-harness floor loom. Rebecca Grabman, MAKESHOP manager, said the loom is […]

When President Obama called on higher-ed institutions to create more maker initiatives last summer, Carnegie Mellon University answered the call. Partnering with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation, and the other members of the MakeSchools Alliance, CMU recently launched MakeSchools.org, a site aiming to connect the dots between the making happening in universities and best practices in maker education.

The holidays are an especially inspiring time for sparking the desire to make. From gifts to cookies to decorations, it’s the season that naturally lends itself to busting out the craft bin, getting hands dirty, and letting imaginations run wild. This season, why not give the gift of more hands-on making experiences and upgrade the holiday season into an all-out maker extravaganza?

Eleven-year-old Caine Monroy has finally closed down his homemade cardboard box arcade. But at Assemble, a makeshop in Pittsburgh, there’s plenty of tinkering still going on.

President Obama proclaims June 18 a National Day of Making and turns to Pittsburgh for inspiration.

How do we teach our kids to persevere in the face of failure?

In Pittsburgh, a building boom of new 21st century digital learning spaces for students of all ages.

How one young maker is taking her education into her own hands and gaining national attention. Check out Sylvia’s Super Awesome Maker Show.

Making is more than a hobby. The DIY movement that bridges hacking and inventing is also a discipline for innovation, and a learning methodology that more and more educators are using with students of all ages.

Maker Faire brings thousands to New York Hall of Science for two days of tinkering, hacking, and DIY innovation