MakerConvent FORMALAB
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Synopsis
The MakerConvent is a dynamic maker lab located in the Sant Agustí Convent Civic Centre in Barcelona. It is one of the most unique and original maker spaces in the city of Barcelona.
It was launched in 2012, a space where not only electronics, mechanics, robotics, design and 3D printing techniques are taught, but also projects that seek to solve specific problems of the territory near the centre. It is a real makerspace where tools and professional advice are offered to carry out the development of ideas, prototypes and collaborative maker projects. Creating an intergenerational community with a passion for technology, dissemination and learning.
Target Audience
- Young people and adults interested in creating new things
- Artists and people interested in digital fabrication
Why is it a good practice in the creative area?
It develops educational and pedagogical activities combining technology, art and education for young people with a strong link to the surrounding neighborhood while activating community engagement activities for socio-educational purposes.
Goals
- Educational goals
- Promotion of maker culture (conventagusti.com/maker/manifiesto-makerconvent/)
- Community engagement
- Social inclusion of youth in situation of disadvantage or exclusion (i.e. m4inclusion.com/)
- Working on STEAM topics with girls and boys (i.e. https://conventagusti.com/maker/academia-maker/)
Skills developed
- Creative thinking and self expression
- Critical thinking and problem solving
- Digital making and basic digital fabrication
- Digital skills
- Technological skills
- Creative craftsmanship
- education for coexistence, teamwork and personal development
- Social and emotional engagement
- Experimentation skills
- Respect for the environment
- Conceptual understanding
Training team
- One lab coordinator responsible for programming activities
- One responsible for giving the activity or workshop, usually a facilitator, educator.
- External collaborator (Depending on where the activity takes place, there will be personnel responsible for the children, young people or adults who participate in that said location. It is important to involve them as an important part of the process).
Duration proposed
Annual and monthly activities with good planning. It is possible to consult a guide developed for educators who want to create and design inclusive maker space and related activities at :
http://m4inclusion.com/IO-1MethodologyForEducationalMakingActivities.pdf
Training/educational activities carried out with young people by MakerConvent
The interest of the MakerConvent space has always been to go beyond simple instrumental learning for the purpose of using machines as tools. Its focus is on learning the processes and methodologies that include both digital and manual tools.
There are two lines of training:
Children, young people
- AcadèmiaMaker (from 11 – 15 years old), a weekly activity with the aim of encouraging creativity and the use of digital tools as a process of technological appropriation.
- MakerArt (8 to 12 year-olds), a quiz-based creative activity that combines artistic criteria with machines and maker processes.
- MakerLab (11 to 15 year-olds), a holiday activity of speculative design focused on working on the SDGs.
- MakerCamp (11 to 16 years old), thematic weeks in which the SDGs are worked on from a much more functional prototype development perspective.
Young people, adults
- Specific workshops on maker techniques, 3D printing, digital embroidery, CNC milling, introduction to maker culture.
- Training of trainers, MakerConvent train facilitators and educational staff for maker spaces.
- Teacher training, training sessions for teachers of any field in maker culture and how it can be applied to the classroom.
European Projects
- MakerABC (EU, 2022-present) Research on the maker movement in Europe.
- STEAMBuilders (EU, 2020-2023) Design of resources for teachers, educators and education professionals to provide them with the tools, pedagogy and theory to implement this innovative and transversal STEAM approach through the manipulation and recreation of techniques and historical heritage.
- Makerspaces For Inclusion (EU, 2018-2021) Design of an educational framework for digital fabrication, design of activities and creation of an OER for trainers.
- TutorBot (EU, 2018-2021) Creation and design of a virtual assistant to accompany online and distance learning.
- Co-Game (EU, 2015-2017) Creation and design of a training curriculum in video games and history learning.
- Declic’in (EU, 2012-2014) Research and evaluation of the gender gap in accessing the technology industry for young women.
- FormaLab (EU, 2011-2013) Research and evaluation of the implementation of knowledge transfer from the Fablab model to the new Formalab model.
Promoting Organization
Centre Civic Convent Sant Augusti https://conventagusti.com/
Project of Transit Projectes https://www.transit.es/
Starting Year
2012
Prizes / recognition received
2018 ADI-FAD Cultura Award Finalist – Design, Content and building of the exhibition “Time and the 3D printing”.
