Students enrolled in the Research Skills and seventh-grade Project Beyond programs at H.B. Thompson Middle School in Syosset recently participated in their first Maker Faire Day. The festival of invention, inspired by the “maker movement,” calls for the creation and marketing of products that are recreated and assembled using unused, discarded raw materials, including computer parts.
Students were given boxes filled with a variety of materials, including cardboard boxes, egg cartons, old floppy discs, plastic bottles, straws, little toy cars and a lot of tape. They were asked to explore the materials available, collaborate with their groups and create an art piece or invention with what they were given. Students planned, innovated, encountered challenges and exchanged ideas with each other in order to create something new.
The wide range of creations included a life-sized model of the Statue of Liberty, various art pieces representing important humanitarian issues, models of cars, robots, energy-efficient buildings, working catapults and marble run structures.
—Syosset Schools
