Youth makerspace program

Project brief

Client:

Shasta High School

The charter high school Summit Shasta offers an “expeditions” program introduces students to new skills outside the classroom by partnering with local businesses and organizations. They sought an 8-week full-time expedition on fabrication and manufacturing. We proposed two options: furniture making, or sewing and decorative textiles. Due to budget and safety, they chose the sewing and textiles option.

Scroll down to see more

Development

To develop this course we used the SAM (successive approximation model) approach, which involves multiple rounds of rapid prototyping and evaluation, unlike the traditional ADDIE process.

  • Initial prototypes involved adult participants. Although not equivalent to the final learner population this helped us refine logistics and time management.
  • We tested shorter versions of each skill area with another group of teenagers in shorter 1-2 day workshops, which let us better plan for the age group's skill level and practice classroom management.
  • Once the program started, it ran in 2-week sessions followed by 6-week breaks, allowing us to adjust based on observations and feedback before the next session.
No items found.

The solution

The course was comprised of four 2-week sessions. In the first three, students learned hand and machine sewing, digital design and fabric printing, and tufting and rug making. In the final session, students combined at least two techniques into a capstone project.

No items found.

The results

  • Students remained highly engaged and maintained good attendance.
  • All students completed major deliverables and the integrative capstone project.
  • The school was pleased and is considering repeating and expanding the program next year.

    • What it looks like

    Click any photo to see closeup
    Summit Shasta Expeditions

    Video examples

    Turning a bowl

    A short promotional video showing a montage of how to turn a small bowl on the wood lathe. Meant to encourage new members to try the wood lathe training.

    Saw blade choice

    A short video showing the benefits and drawbacks of the most common styles of table saw blades.

    CMS training

    The organization is changing from one CRM system to another. This is a brief video showing how to book workshop equipment in the new system.

    What is CNC

    An introduction to CNC machines at the Humanmade woodshop. What they can do, their history, and how something goes from digital design to being cut.

    Look below to learn more about me and to see a selection of my recent work.
    Click any image below to see more about each project.

    Concepts of CNC

    E-learning module created for a hybrid training program. Participants learn key concepts before attending in-person training to apply those concepts.

    Hybrid equipment training

    An e-learning module created to test a hybrid training approach. It can also act as an interactive job-aid reference for woodshop users after training.

    Youth makerspace program

    A youth exposure program designed for Summit Shasta high school to introduce students to traditional and mondern manufacturing techniques used in a makerspace.

    Training manuals update

    This project involved updating and standardizing the training material available to participants in Humanmade's makerspace FSO (Fundamental Safety & Operations) training sessions.

    Foundations of Woodworking

    A project-based introduction to the essential skills required in the modern woodshop. Students are introduced to power tool safety and workflows while completing a series of craft projects.