Youth makerspace program

Client:
Shasta High School
Completion date:
April 25, 2024
Category:
Curricula

The challenge

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.

The development process

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.
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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.
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