An International Science Fair at Our Door Step!
Walking through the doors into the Maker Faire at South Lakes High School, visitors often pause at the immediate visual overload. On their right is a long hallway filled with homemade unicycles and human-powered vehicles that defy description. On their left is an enormous gymnasium full of kids soldering circuit boards and buzzing drones. First-time visitors are excused if they need to step back outside to catch their breath; they won’t expect that much energy at a ‘science’ convention. Welcome to Maker Faire.
Maker Faire is an international phenomenon, having grown to over 130 fairs in 26 countries with hundreds of thousands of participants. The fairs showcase real people using technology and creativity to create unique projects in fields as diverse as gardening, music, robotics, aeronautics, and computer science. They are first and foremost a gathering place for fellow ‘makers’ to meet, learn about technology, and work together. On paper, it doesn’t sound like the most interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon. But don’t be fooled, Maker Faire is, by far, the most interesting place to spend an afternoon learning.
At the Reston Maker Faire, visitors have the opportunity for an unparalleled experience that feels seems something between a large art fair and a high school shop class. And large it is. The fare has grown to encompass the local high school and junior high school next-door with hundreds of students, parents and adults sharing in the excitement of learning and building. Visitors will find something of interest to learn from here, as practically every hobby or interest is represented.
Featured photo and photo above are from: http://nova.makerfaire.com/media-center/
Dispersed through the Faire are many students, engineers, craftsmen, and artisans mixing and working in thematically clustered areas. A large volunteer staff assists participants and visitors and films makers eager to share their creations and the (often-self learned) technical knowhow behind them. Both participants and visitors feel the energy and excitement about learning and making for making’s sake, in a sense recapturing the fun of creating that has somehow been stripped away from us in our regular mass-produced consumer world.
In northern Virginia, an organization named Nova Labs has been working to promote technology and innovation in the community by providing access to classrooms, offices, and machine shops. Nova Labs members develop a wide range of projects, with kids and adults empowered to make science and engineering exciting through projects from programming robots to drones and lasers. Nova Labs’s presence at the Faire is impressive, and includes a large number of classes and demonstrations worth attending leading up to and at the Faire.
The Nova Maker faire is usually located at South Lakes High School and Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston, VA. Tickets are usually around $9-15 adult/$1-5 child.
For more information see: http://nova.makerfaire.com
For more information on Nova Labs’ Faire activities see: http://www.nova-labs.org/blog/category/events/makerfaire/