By Stephen Noonoo, THE Journal
Melissa Fernandez is the instructional supervisor for industrial education and technology education for the Career and Technical Education Dept. at Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida — and a huge proponent of makerspaces. Back when she was an engineering teacher, she turned her entire class into an instructional makerspace, and saw students bloom in ways she never could have imagined. “STEM and STEAM are so important these days,” said Fernandez, who recently presented at the TCEA 2017 conference in Austin in a session about reimagining learning using makerspaces. “We often drive students to the idea that they’re good in some subjects and not others. Makerspaces allow you to break down these walls.” Makerspaces are big at Miami-Dade, which even designates certain schools as STEM- or STEAM-focused.
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