This isn’t your grandfather’s library! Libraries have always been a place for inquiry and deep learning, whether the medium is print or electronic, and at Westerville Central High School, the library is busier than ever. Recently, in partnership with the Renaissance team, Principal Todd Spinner, an anonymous parent donor, the library, and funding from the Westerville City Schools Educational Technology Department, a new makerspace area, nicknamed “The Hawk’s Perch,” was dedicated. The counter holds a host of small tech tools that students can experiment and explore with including a MakeyMakey circuitry kit, two Little Bits electronics kits, laser strategy games, ozobot programmable miniature robots that teach students how to code, and much more. Students can use the Hawk’s Perch area before or after school, or during their lunch or study hall times, and the library maintains an open access policy for pupils.
In addition, the library has a green screen recording space, cameras, and a camera stand and easel board students can use to make “Khan Academy style” videos using the district’s WeVideo editing program. WeVideo integrates with Google Drive, so students can edit from school or from home.
The makerspace movement is founded on the belief that learning is inquisitive and student-centered and is grounded in the educational theories of constructionism, constructivism, and Montessori, and aligns with the work of Piaget, Vygosky, and Dewey (University of Wisconsin, Teaching for Creativity and Innovation: The Maker Culture and Makerspaces).