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2017 EDUCATION MAGAZINE
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MARCH 1, 2017 Page 11
Currently, the district issues iPads to students in
grades K-second, Google Chromebooks in third
through eighth grades, and is currently piloting several
Microsoft Surface devices.
While the students now have complete access to the
world at their fingertips, they have been among the
first in central Illinois to experience “design thinking.”
NH-M has created the only dedicated central “maker
space” to its students in Logan County. The old
unused classroom has now been transformed into a
“dream lab” where students can bring their ideas to
life. For use by all students in grades K-eighth grade,
the maker space is a collection of tools where students
can design, create, and tinker their ideas.
In one corner is a 3-dimensional ink pen, where
students integrate their artistic abilities. The opposite
corner houses a large 1000-piece puzzle.
Along the adjacent wall is a large bookcase filled with
tools and everyday items, some of them cast-offs from
home, which are used by students to “make” things to
solve a problem (this collection includes Legos, play-
doh, cupcake wrappers, pom pon balls, school glue,
toilet paper rolls, paper cups, pipe cleaners, etc.)
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