The last few years at Winnipegosis Collegiate Institute have been challenging. We have had more and more students wishing to look into trades, but our Industrial Arts Lab was lacking. To improve this deficit, we applied for and received the Skills Strategy Equipment Enhancement Fund (SSEEF) grant from Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning. This has allowed us to purchase new equipment that opens a multitude of possibilities for our students. These purchases are also being used as the base for creating a Maker Space.
Maker Spaces are spaces set up to encourage entrepreneurship, discovery, and flights of fancy. The space provides all the required tools for a student to take an idea and explore it. There is a Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD) pod where students take their idea and get it drawn out in 2D and 3D drawings. This helps them to visualize the end result. To aid this visualization, students will be able to create models using the 3D printers in the space. They will also be able to test various materials for their suitability to be used in the product. Our newest printer is designed to create metal models and allows for fit testing.
When the initial modeling is done, we have a number of tools that we can use to create an advanced prototype of a product. Using our horizontal/vertical metal bandsaw, the student will be able to cut up rough blocks to use with our CNC router or various mini-mills. They can also use our WAZER waterjet cutter to cut fine detailed pieces for the prototypes. After the prototypes are done, the student can use the tools available to make their finished product.
In the future, we are looking to expand the Maker Space to allow for exploration of robotics and the ability to create remote controlled drones and other devices. In order to do this, we will need to enter into partnerships outside the school and at present, we are exploring a few possibilities. If Maker Space develops as we envision, then eventually we would be opening it up to the community. Our hope is that community involvement will show our students what opportunities exist for them and encourage them to do their best in school.
We are planning for an open house in the near future to demonstrate the abilities of all of our new equipment and to generate some buzz in the community. We will also use it as a platform to investigate possible partnerships. We hope to see many of you there.