Join the Maker Movement: Newark Museum Chosen for Maker Corp Pilot Program

The Newark Museum, for more than 100 years, has been an education leader among museums nationally in marrying the disciplines of art, technology, science and history by developing tools for implementing self-guided, hands-on and interactive learning. This is the foundation of the Newark Museum’s Makerspace.

Introduced last year, Newark Museum has been chosen as one of over 30 pilot sites by Maker Corps which supports the Museum's continued presentation of Makerspace programming. Maker Corps is a program developed by the Maker Education Initiative, whose founding sponsors include Cognizant, Intel, and Maker Media. Its mentors will bring their own enthusiasm and knowledge to Camp Newark Museum, the Museum’s summer program for children, ages 3 to 17, and family drop-in summer programs. Maker Corp mentors will also engage children in creative projects that develop problem-solving skills through connections between science, art and technology.
At Makerspace, young people are inspired by their own interests and explorations to create by using low-cost everyday tools and materials, enhanced through access to state-of-the art technologies. Users of the Makerspace, develop innovative designs and solutions—the focus is on “do-it-yourself” (DIY)—if you can think it, you can make it. Put simply, users learn by “making.”
These skills are developed in the Makerspace, as well as within the Museum’s galleries and collections. Participants are exposed to the vast object and intellectual resources the Museum has to offer, which makes Makerspace at the Newark Museum a unique learning experience.
Makerspace at the Newark Museum launched its first pilot program last year with the support of Cognizant Corporation’s Making the Future initiative, in partnership with the Big Picture Schools in the Newark Public Schools and HTINK, an organization specializing in the “maker movement.” Twelve high school students from Newark’s Innovation Academy participated in a 14-week class that supported the school’s curriculum. Student projects ranged from custom-designed and printed T-shirts to original video game design, complemented by the students designing and printing their own 3-D game controller along with programming and soldering the controller’s microprocessor.
To apply to become a Maker Corps member at the Newark Museum or for additional information, visit http://makered.org/makercorps/.