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School News | Monday, April 24, 2017

‘If you can dream it, you can make it’

Sts. Peter and Paul students think, design, create at Moonlighter Makerspace Miami

MIAMI | When a mermaid has a problem, who you gonna call? How about a third grader from Sts. Peter and Paul School.

That’s what happened during a recent school field trip to Moonlighter Makerspace in Wynwood, where “design thinking” is the buzzword and students are given free rein to think, design, collaborate and create.

“It involves all the disciplines,” said Aleida Cruz, kindergarten teacher at Sts. Peter and Paul, who has accompanied several classes to Moonlighter Makerspace.

The fourth graders tried it first, with such overwhelming success that the third and eighth-grade classes followed a few weeks later.

“It was amazing, the things our fourth graders came up with. They actually produced something that’s never been produced before,” Cruz said. “I think it’s the future: innovation and collaboration.”

A student from Team Soldier paints some of the tubing for a fog machine he is creating during the Design Thinking Challenge in Moonlighter Makerspace Miami.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

A student from Team Soldier paints some of the tubing for a fog machine he is creating during the Design Thinking Challenge in Moonlighter Makerspace Miami.

During the most recent field trip in late March, Sts. Peter and Paul’s third graders were welcomed and assisted throughout the day by Moonlighter Makerspace owners Daisy Nodal and Tom Pupo. Both are architects in their 20s who were inspired by the community “makerspaces” in Europe. Like their own space, these house a variety of tools ranging from 3D printers and laser cutters to power tools, sewing machines, and more.

“When we graduated, we knew all of this equipment in the lab at school, but there wasn’t a place after graduation for us to keep using these tools,” said Pupo, whose traces his passion for design and architecture back to his school days at Blessed Trinity in Miami Springs. “When we were studying abroad we naively said, ‘Let’s go back to Miami and open one up,’ and it just snowballed from there.”

Moonlighter Makerspace opened in 2014. Three years later, the shop partners with institutions such as FIU, Miami Dade College, the Wolfsonian, the Patricia and Philip Frost Science Museum, and more.

While those big-name clients bring in plenty of work, the space is also available to educators looking for STEAM experiences. (That’s science, technology, engineering, arts and math.) For students, architects, artists, engineers, carpenters and anyone seeking a hands-on approach to design and creativity, it is a dream space.

During the 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. field trip, Sts. Peter and Paul’s students split into groups and selected one client from among fictional characters that included a mermaid, fairy, ninja, robot, time traveler, or soldier.

“I was hoping for a mermaid in the morning before we got here,” said third grader Isabelle Vila.

The students were introduced to their client’s lifestyle as well as a problem that required solving: The fairy needed a secret space where she could hide all her goodies and hang out. The mermaid needed a comfy place to sit. The ninja needed ways to improve his stealth. The time traveler needed more time. The robot needed a way to carry his personal items. And the soldier needed new weapons that also helped him stay hydrated.

Imagination kicked in, and the students started drawing and writing out concepts.

“For their age, we’ve noticed that third graders can go out of the box completely; eighth graders we need to push them out,” said Nodal. “We get very creative minds. We try to incorporate problem-solving into all of our lessons and we get them thinking. ‘Here’s your problem. Solve it, but then solve it in a different way.’”

Liana Zenini shows the finished model bed for her mermaid client in the Design Thinking Challenge at Moonlighter Makerspace.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Liana Zenini shows the finished model bed for her mermaid client in the Design Thinking Challenge at Moonlighter Makerspace.

“A lot of it is education-based because people aren’t exposed to this,” said Pupo. “This way of thinking isn’t just for architecture; it should be used in any discipline requiring problem-solving.”

From the design stage, students moved on to the prototype stage, where they got their hands on all kinds of crafting equipment to make their designs come to life. They assembled fabric, glue, paint, pvc pipes, pipe cleaners, Styrofoam, buttons, batteries and even lightbulbs to create the prototypes.

“This is DIY (do it yourself), but in a bigger scale,” said Mario Cruz, a Moonlighter volunteer also known as Mario the Maker. “The younger the kids, the more creative, the more awesome the results are.”

By turns, the students watched as Nodal, Pupo, Cruz and a volunteer showed them the laser cutter in action. The fine precision of the machine — capable of etching on a surface or cutting through materials like plastic, wood and acrylic — produced an array of ninja stars, tulips, coins, goggles and even dragons.

“I used to cut everything by hand with an X-Acto knife,” said Vicky Gonzalez, an illustrator and Moonlighter volunteer who uses the machine for her own business. “I knew I couldn’t do mass production like this, so I learned how to use the laser printer.”

At Moonlighter, the emphasis is on building community and helping each other, which in turn encourages future collaboration and cooperation, even if people are working on separate projects. It is exactly what took place as Sts. Peter and Paul students put their projects together in a whirlwind of creative chaos.  

“What we notice is that kids get empowered with the whole process,” said Pupo. “It makes them feel like they have the agency to make something happen, and to make change.”

“It was the most amazing thing that I have done in my life; the way it just expands your mind,” said Sts. Peter and Paul Principal Carlota Morales, who has accompanied the students on some of the field trips. “It has opened up their creativity. If you can dream it, you can make it.” 

Team Robot members display the backpacks and the coin box they made for their client.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Team Robot members display the backpacks and the coin box they made for their client.


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