The Platform Maker Education has gained support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to promote maker education in The Netherlands. The Ministry will push the concept 'learning by making' with this move, which will mean that more schools in The Netherlands can integrate makers education in their lessons.
Platform Maker Education gives an impuls to the bottom-up maker education movement in The Netherlands. It aims to share knowledge and information, map the different activities in The Netherlands and to make learning materials available.
Making today
Making has gained new meaning in today's society. Through the rise of the Internet, new making principles have been established. These principles are based on openness, transparency, and social connectedness. New professions arise on the boundary between virtual and physical reality. Enter, the crafts of the new century and the next phase of the digital revolution. With the advent of digital fabrication, physical products can now be created from digital files. Of course, human beings also want to give meaning to, and personalize their own products. When people are able to actively shape their environment, awareness of their actions increases. Thus, ownership and responsibility for the environment and life are likely to increase as well.
Initiators of Platform Maker Education
Initiators of the platform are Arjan van de Meij from The Hague (De Populier school), Jeroen de Boer of Frysklab/FabLab Benelux and Karien Vermeulen of Waag. They are doing makers projects for some years now, like FabKlas, the website www.makered.nl, the mobile FabLab of Frysklab, FabSchool and more recently the Teacher Maker Camp.
