MichiganMakers at the UM-School of Information

Informal Learning with Middle-Grade Kids We hear a lot these days about the importance of innovation for America’s future. That takes practice! Kids need time to tinker, putter, design, and build stuff. The Michigan Makers project, a service learning activity sponsored by the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI), is a chance to work in community with kids in grades 4-8 in the Ann Arbor area. On Tuesdays or Thursdays (most volunteers pick one of the two sites), Michigan Makers volunteers mentors bring a menu of activities and meet up with kids after school for 90 minutes of tinkering, imagining, engineering, and peer learning. Some activities -- like junk box creations -- let kids work on their own. Others build on the skills of mentors: computer programming, board game design, comics creation, or more. Along the way, we all get a break from student life and help kids develop teamwork, perseverance, and creative thinking.

For an overview and blog of last year’s Michigan Makers activities, visit http://umsi.info/makers . Check out photos of last year’s Michigan Makers activities at http://www.flickr.com/photos/michiganmakers/sets/ .

Michigan Makers is supported by a Quick Wins grant from the University of Michigan Third Century Fund and the School of Information’s Founders Fund. Background checks required.

Led by School of Information professor, Kristin Fontichiaro, Michigan Makers is compiled of University of Michigan students interested in working with kids to spark their imagination through making, tinkering, and creating.