The “maker” movement’s roots are scattered across the country, in garages, basements, and workshops; the seeds sown among spare parts, untried ideas, and experiments—successful and failed.
“From a science and technology point of view, [making is] a gateway to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics),” says Dale Dougherty, the founder of MAKE magazine and Maker Faire, an event created by MAKE to “celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects, and the Do-It-Yourself mindset.” Dougherty, who also serves on the board of advisors of the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed), adds, making “provides a context for science and technology and helps [students] do something they’re already interested in doing.”
Through MAKE and Maker Faire, Dougherty has been encouraging people of all ages to become makers and “approach science and technology not as an abstract, but [as] something very concrete they can engage with, have fun with…The idea of maker space right now combines elements of old shop classes, computer labs, and art.”
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.