Growing Beyond Earth Make-A-Thon: Crowdsourcing Prototypes for The Plant Growing Chamber on the International Space Station
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden has been working with NASA to identify specific plant varieties that would be ideal candidates to feed astronauts on the ISS. Now, we’ve partnered with Fairchild, NASA, IMLS, Nation of Makers, Adadruit, Instructables, MakerBot, and littleBits|Sphero to host a series of annual maker contests, crowdsourcing ideas that solve specific challenges for NASA’s research and development on farming in space. Read More…
Moonlighter Selected for Cohort 4 of Making Spaces Program by MakerEd
We are very excited to announce that we have been selected for the fourth cohort of MakerEd’s Making Spaces Hubs! We join a group of 10 hubs—including two community makerspaces, three K–12 school systems, three higher education institutions, and three museums—working over a 30-month professional learning and capacity-building program designed to develop local leadership around maker-centered learning and build a foundation to embed change in three core areas (pedagogy, community, and culture) while emphasizing sustainability and growth.
We are grateful to Cognizant’s Making the Future initiative for sponsoring Moonlighter and seven other Cohort 4 Hubs, and Google for their continued investment in the programming at Maker Ed.
Moonlighter is one of 23 orgs awarded a creARTE Grant
In its inaugural CreARTE awards, the Perez Family Foundation has designated $2 million to support local cultural endeavors.
A total of 23 groups will receive grants of $25,000 to $200,000 over a two-year period in a total $1.82 million in direct awards. The balance of the money will be used to invest in program evaluation and capacity building for grantees.
Grants were announced Tuesday night at the opening of El Espacio 23, a new museum showcasing the Jorge M. Perez Collection. The awards and the museum were created by Miami real estate developer and philanthropist Perez and his family.
Moonlighter was awarded $50,000 to expand the Fabrication Laboratory, S.T.E.A.M. Learning Center and Maker’s Studios into a new 7,000-square-foot innovation lab in Miami Beach.
A Summer of Making
It has been a busy Summer for Makers — with so many incredible programs, events, and developments — we’re just so excited to share it all with you! From Summer Camps to Combat Robot events to National Maker Challenges… Summer has been non-stop!
Summer STEAM Maker Camp 2019
Moonlighter Makerspace hosted 10 weeks of maker camps for 7–12 year olds. With a new challenge each week, our young makers had to design and build their ideas using critical thinking, creativity, and a range of cutting edge technologies!
Maker Faire Miami 2019
The sixth annual Maker Faire Miami was especially dear to us as our long-time mentor, Mario Cruz — AKA Mario the Maker, assumed the responsibility of being the lead producer for the event. His enthusiasm for the maker movement was seen in all of the new additions to the faire, from organizing a new hands-on activities area in coordination with local maker organizations, to inviting more student, teacher and school participation, and featuring more women makers! This year’s Maker Faire Miami was the most inclusive experience yet — leveling the playing field for all curious minds and welcoming everyone who wants to join the movement! Read on to learn more about our exhibit and some of our favorite parts of the faire.
Building Open Source IOT Flood Trackers for City of Miami with Mario the Maker, Code For Miami, and Particle.io
On a warm and breezy evening in Miami, a group of people came out from a workshop with joy and fulfillment on their faces. They were one step closer to finish building a small fleet of IoT flood trackers that will help tackle the rising sea level issue in Miami.
Rising sea levels affect everyone in Miami — whether it is a storm flooding that forces business to shut down or daily tides hindering students from the school or the retreating coastline that forces people to abandon their homes to seek higher ground, rising water levels are a big issue. By 2045, the sea level is projected to rise about 15 inches and put a fifth of Miami underwater at high tide, according to US Army Corps of Engineers data (SFRCCC 2015).
Building the trackers took place over a series of workshops, letting community members build loT solutions to the water problems facing their community. The project is driven by the city government (City of Miami), local maker communities, and highly motivated citizens involved in Code for Miami.
Moonlighter Partners with Fairchild Botanic Garden
With funding from IMLS and NASA, a partnership between Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Moonlighter FabLab, and Nation of Makers is formed with the goal of empowering the community to prototype the solutions for growing food in space. Moonlighter is assisting Fairchild in building their own Innovation Studio at the garden, running educational programs for all ages in their Science Village classrooms, and coordinating three national design challenges focused on engaging makers all across the country to create their ideas to solve various NASA food production initiatives.
Maker Faire Miami 2018
Maker Faire Miami 2018
Our third annual Miami Makers Pavilion continues its tradition of celebrating the collaborations of local makers and STEAM organizations — all coming together to build a better Miami!
This is the second year that Maker Faire Miami is a Full Featured Faire — but it is celebrating its 5th year since it started. We’ve participated each year and helped organize it in the steering committee, but we felt like there was a need to bring people together to do something special that highlights the synergies in the Miami Maker Commmunity. Three years ago we began the Miami Makers Pavilion to help coordinate local makers, STEAM organizations, and startups in a collaborative showcase that celebrates the diversity of talent we have in South Florida. This year was the largest showcase yet!
When children build for real clients.
When children build for real clients.
A Summer filled with collaboration, creativity, and community.
Each Summer, we host our Summer S.T.E.A.M. maker camps that engage kids in hands-on projects. We explore topics ranging from Design Thinking, to Electronics, to Sustainable Design, and even dabble in Culinary Creations! But this Summer, through some wonderful collaborations, the impact was even greater! We partnered with various instructors, community organizations, and local small businesses to provide real-world challenges that the kids would design and build solutions for. It was uncharted territory for many involved in the projects — but it ended up being an incredibly rewarding experience! This is the story of two incredible projects that put the power of community transformation in the hands of children (of course with the help of a team of committed local makers!)