What we do at the K-12 MakerLab

The K-12 MakerLab team is here to help K-12 classroom educators create and deliver fun, enriching Maker experiences to all of their students - no matter what subject they teach. 

We offer 

• free starter activities with step-by-step tutorials
• free reference materials for using common Maker tools and running safe, effective Makerspaces
• training workshops for teachers and other K-12 educators

We work directly with other K-12 educators to collect and co-design resources. Everything you see in our Maker Methodology has been piloted by a dedicated team of teachers and administrators, and we're proud to showcase Maker projects from real K-12 classrooms in our Idea Gallery. 

We are proud to work with funding from supporters that include Autodesk, AFFOA, and La Fundación Mustakis. 

The K-12 MakerLab Team

Diane Brancazio
​Lead Maker Educator
Diane is passionate about the potential of Makerspaces to improve education. She works intensively to support teachers integrating maker into their regular curriculum and in using Makerspaces to engage and empower students. Her formal technical training includes a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.  Working as a product design consultant at several engineering companies, she developed skills in creative problem solving, project management, and fabrication. Diane went into education as a career after serving as an instructor for summer programs at the Edgerton Center. She has now returned with 15 years of experience in teaching technology and engineering design, computer science, and general science in public middle and high-school classrooms. With Ed, Diane co-teaches a popular freshman advising seminar entitled “Engineering, Art, and Science."

Ed Moriarty
​Instructor
Ed has been a driver in the Maker movement since long before it was coined "Maker." Ed has been a designer and leader of engaging, hands-on science and engineering programs in sites ranging from the MIT Student Project Lab, through a selective Boston high school and a small village in the Alaskan bush, to a large regional event in Beijing, China. Common to all these experiences is Ed’s ability to connect with people and inspire them to question, learn, and do.

Ed holds a BS in Mechanical engineering and over 30 years of experience at MIT.  For the past 17 years he has been an instructor with the MIT Edgerton Center, teaching seminars and labs and mentoring many of the MIT student clubs and teams that take part in local, national, and international engineering design endeavors. For the past five years he has been running the month-long Engineering Design Workshop at the MIT Edgerton Center. Ed has also developed an informal non-program called “The Saturday Thing” in which students have a rich opportunity for unstructured play in a constructive community environment. With Diane, Ed co-teaches a popular freshman advising seminar entitled “Engineering, Art, and Science.” ​

Justin Schmidt
Maker Educator
Since he was old enough to pick up a screwdriver, Justin has been making things, breaking things, and occasionally managing to fix things. He established and led a middle school Makerspace where he collaborated with teachers across all subject areas to design and deliver engaging Maker-ed projects to their students. He also taught classes in design thinking, electronics, video production, and photography.

Justin has also worked with Parts and Crafts, a kid-centered community Makerspace in Somerville, MA, and as a community access facilitator at Fabville, the Somerville High School's Fab Lab.

​Jonathan Dietz
​Educator and Maker
Jonathan is a long-time volunteer with the Edgerton Center, generously sharing his skills in hand-construction, photography, and website development, along with his educational philosophy. His contributions to this site are many, and include text as well as photographs and videos. After graduating from MIT with degrees in life sciences and electrical engineering, Jonathan was a clinical engineer with the Veterans Administration from 1975-2000, with a multitude of projects including prosthetic devices and interfacing, ICU, cath lab, and operating room design, and other projects. Since the mid-1990's, and beginning full-time in 2000, Jonathan has been working to improve the teaching of project-based science, technology/engineering, and design in Grades K-8, working as both an in-class educator and curriculum designer, with a special interest in creating online curriculum materials. He now is working with a team developing new STEAM-based Innovation schools in Massachusetts, and works with the Edgerton Center K-12 Maker team to develop projects, run workshops, and support the Engineering Design Workshop.

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About The Edgerton Center

For decades before the dawn of the Maker movement, the Edgerton Center has been a home for Makers: collaborative, playful, experiential learners who believe everyone should have access to the tools for building a better world. Harold "Doc" Edgerton was famous not only for his breakthroughs in sonar and high-speed imaging, but for opening the doors of his lab to any and every student who had a passion to pursue and a project to build. Over the years, we've grown to support local community members, international schools, and STEAM education organizations looking for access to tools, activities, and collaborators.

Established in 1992, the MIT Edgerton Center continues the hands-on legacy of Harold “Doc” Edgerton by giving students opportunities to learn by doing. Programs include courses in engineering and high-speed photography for MIT students and professionals, the international-development program D-Lab, student-run clubs and teams, student machine shops, and a year-round K-12 science and engineering outreach program, including professional-development teacher workshops and curriculum materials.

For K-12 students, our K-12 outreach program includes daily hands-on workshops for local students, professional development in Maker education for K-12 teachers, weekly informal Maker time for local teens and families (called the “Saturday Thing” since it defies definition), intensive summer workshops for middle and high school students, including Engineering Design Workshop, a month-long intensive project-based program for local high school students, and interdisciplinary STEAM modules offered as a part of i2 STEM Week. For K-12 teachers, we offer Maker training in the K-12 MakerLab, as well as hands-on curriculum for teaching threshold concepts in cellular and molecular biology. 

Doc Edgerton created a space for students to explore their passions. Continuing this tradition, the Edgerton Center is taking on a new role as a resource for educators who want to inspire their students with Making.