From 2020-2022, the spectrUM Discovery Area partnered with Maker Ed, an organization based in Berkeley, CA whose mission is to transform teaching through the power of making. Through this collaboration and with generous funding from Cognizant, spectrUM worked with a cohort of over 20 teachers at five different sites around the state to embed maker education within their curriculum.

spectrUM's Making and Tinkering team meets every month with other national organizations working with sites in their respective regions to share ideas, trainings, curriculum and support.

This collaboration includes:

• Monthly Peer Learning Community meetings between sites to share ideas, best practices, and support each other through a particularly difficult period for teachers and educators.
• Site visits from spectrUM educators to share new activity ideas and informal education practices with the teachers and students.
• Distribution of science kits to each site for teachers to facilitate with their students either in the classroom or remotely.
• Professional development for teachers to learn new skills, activities and curriculum.
• Making and tinkering supplies to support the in-school facilitation of making and tinkering activities.

Explore Making and Tinkering resources from spectrUM.