National maker education summit coming to Sonoma County

More than 200 educators will engage in hands-on STEM maker activities to take back to their classrooms.|

The Sonoma County Office of Education is hosting its first conference on maker education, drawing leaders in the movement from around the state and the country.

The reMAKE Education Summit (remakeeducation.org) Aug. 3–5 has a goal to train more than 200 educators from all grade levels and subject areas in how to bring the maker movement to classrooms around Sonoma County, the state and nation. The summit will be held at 180 Studios, a newly opened 15,000-square-foot makerspace at 150 Todd Rd. in Santa Rosa.

“There is incredible energy surrounding the maker education movement, both locally and around the state and country,” said Dan Blake, director of innovation and partnerships at the county education office (SCOE). “This summit is intended to capitalize on that energy by bringing educators together with leaders in the maker movement to learn alongside one another, share innovative ideas, and build professional networks.”

Attendees will engage in hands-on making tutorials, hear from renowned speakers, utilize state-of the-art equipment, and hear what’s working best in classrooms around the country. Designed to engage and empower teachers (and their students in turn), topics include building electric vehicles in the classroom; using video apps to tell stories; why girls like engineering; and circuitry and robotics. Attendees will also have the chance to tour innovative Bay Area companies and local school makerspaces.

SCOE has focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education movement, helping to start the Maker Certificate Program for teachers at Sonoma State University, hiring its own, full-time curriculum coordinator for Maker, and building a design lab in north Santa Rosa, where local teachers can learn the basics and become acquainted with tools like laser cutters, 3-D printers, and more.

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