New Milford H.S. Students Explore New Ways Of Learning With Library's 'Makerspace'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One New Jersey high school has its students getting creative with a new space in its library that encourages teens to think out side of the box.
As CBS 2's Cindy Hsu reported Thursday, the library at New Milford High School has more than just books these days.
The library is home to a brand new "Makerspace" that even includes a 3-D printer.
Kyle Henry used the high-tech 3-D printer to create a phone case. The special printer allows students to create models of just about anything and then makes that model a reality.
"You can change the color, you have blue, black, white, red, green. Basically comes out a phone case in an hour or two," Henry explained.
Other students were busy creating video game controllers out of fruit, Hsu reported.
"I never played a video game with fruit, it's a very interesting game...I think we broke it," Tristan Tiongson said as he played the game with Hsu.
Students at the school are allowed to visit the Makerspace anytime they want.
Pamela Yachou told Hsu she built her own computer at the Makerspace last month. She said she loves to take computers apart at the "Take Apart Station."
"This is a motherboard, everything connects to this. This is a CPU, it does calculations for the computer. This is heat sync, which cools off the CPU," Yachou explained.
The school's Makerspace was created by the library's media specialist, Laura Fleming. She said it's all about making learning fun and inspiring innovation.
"I've had kids go home and learn about things they started in our Makerspace and to me that's a teachers dream," Fleming said.
And the space also has kids dreaming big, Hsu reported.
"Now I want to do bio-medical engineering, so hopefully I get into that," said senior Isabel Seda. "(and Makerspace has made you feel like that?) Yeah it has a lot because it shows us all the different ways to build things and it take you through step by step."
While the students love the Makerspace, school officials said next year it's going to look completely different. They said they want to change it up to keep it new and relevant.
Fleming said anyone can make their own Makerspace on just about any budget. It costed the school about $1,500 and Fleming said she saved money by getting many items donated.
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