30 October 2020

PROGRAM Labs teacher training

Makerspaces have a significant impact on the learning of students, the development of entrepreneurial skills and the personal development.

Subscribe to the online course if you want to learn how to use ánd apply design thinking, makers education (3D printing) and circular skills in your lessons.

More info

Erna van der Werff

February 2020

What influence can Makerspaces have in the mission to prevent students from dropping out of school? That is the central question of the international project 'PROGRAM labs'.

Makerspaces and schools from Belgium, Spain, Lithuania and the Netherlands got together in Kortrijk, BE at the premises VIVES University of Applied Sciences to deliberate ‘How can we use our Makerspace and Fab Labs to combat early school leaving?’

Questions arose like ‘Who are these young people? What characteristics and behaviour of students can be indicators of an increased risk of dropping out? What kind of programs could resonate with this target group and how do you facilitate and support this? How do you combine this with 'regular' education?’

After the research phase Program Labs will transfer the first findings into a full training week for youth at the M-Lab makerspace in Vilnius, LT in April 2020.

Besides lead partner VIVES, Spes Nostra and Rhizo from Belgium, Friesland College D’Lab and the Learning Hub Friesland Foundation from the Netherlands, Fab Lab Cuenca from Spain and M Lab Vulius from Lithuania participate in the project.

Erna van der Werff

November 2019

European organisations join forces to inspire young unmotivated people by learning and experimenting in Makerspaces.

All over the world, more and more Makerspaces pop-up. And that’s no surprize. Making is vital to what it means to be human. There is something unique about making tangible things. Creating is not just a 'nice' activity; it transforms, connects and empowers.

This is exactly the reason that 7 educational partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Lithuania joined forces to open up makerspace to youth on the verge of dropping out of school and actively involve this group of individuals in the Makerspaces. How can makerspaces motivate and empower them to take control over their personal and professional life?

In November 2019, the partners of the Program Labs project met at Fab Lab Cuenca to discuss the approach. The first step to increase the impact of Makerspaces on the learning of students, the development of their entrepreneurial skills and their personal development, is making an inventory of similar successful approaches in Europe. This will result in a guide of best practice and form the basis for the development of workshops and curricula in the Program Labs project.

Erna van der Werff