• Bergen Makerspace:

    Education - Community - Innovation

     

    Bergen Makerspace is a community-learning center formed by educators in the New York City tri-state area. We are committed to our three founding principles: education, innovation and community. Our mission is to serve as a catalyst for innovation within Bergen County by bringing together cutting edge equipment, passionate educators and a community dedicated to making.

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    Education

    Bergen County Technical Schools

    Our unique position within both the educational and the maker communities engages a population traditionally underserved by the larger educational system. Many of our participants are not looking for a comprehensive program like those offered at community or 4-year colleges and universities, but rather seek a practical, focused instruction specific to their needs. Our Makerspace provides students with a flexible, innovative, and low-cost alternative.

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    Innovation

    Maker Movement

    By its very nature, the makerspace is a hub for new ideas and innovations. The makers that use the space are constantly pushing into new frontiers. The Bergen Makerspace can facilitate the transfer of that talent into the classroom, allowing innovators to inspire students by introducing them to nascent technologies and mentor students as they develop unique applications.

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    Community

    A need to create

    Traditional educational institutions, by their very nature, are not designed to meet the specific needs of the growing population of adult learners who seek specific, project-based instruction designed to facilitate the development of their ideas. The recent growth in the number of Maker Spaces is evidence of this need. Bergen Makerspace is unique in that it provides not only the physical space and community of like-minded makers, but also specific directed instruction that caters to the ever-changing needs and demands of the maker community.

    Response during COVID-19

    1,500 pieces of PPE have been distributed to more than 20 different facilities in NJ and other states

    There’s no waiting around for the government to come through on personal protection equipment when you can have high school students design, make, and deliver shields, ear guards, intubation boxes, and more to hospitals and medical facilities. Here you can watch a segment highlighting the Bergen Makerspace.

     

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    Common Space for Makers!

    Bergen Makerspace brings together the very best of public education and community experimentation and innovation. Our ability to connect makers with a community of like-minded peers and to provide them with the practical knowledge needed to realize their ideas puts us at the vanguard of the maker movement. Bergen Makerspace offers a variety of free and paid courses taught by expert faculty who have the pedagogical training and project-based teaching experience to understand how to design curriculum that addresses the unique needs of the maker community.

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    Bergen Makerspace welcome Scouts!

    Our position within the maker community ensures that we are on the forefront of innovation for all types of youth organizations. Maker collaborations strengthen both the community and the ideals of youth organizations like the Boy/Girl Scouts of America. The scouting groups that use the space are constantly pushing into new frontiers. The Bergen Makerspace can facilitate the transfer of that talent into the scouting organizations, inspire scouts by introducing them to nascent technologies and mentor girls and boys as they develop unique applications.