KID Museum’s Maker Educators are highly-trained and extremely busy — they develop innovative new programs and workshops, teach the school groups that come in every day, and design and facilitate camps, after-school programs, and weekend activities. They serve as mentors to our high school apprentices and our high school coding corps, and as inspiration to the thousands of children and families that visit KID Museum each year.
Dania Roach
1. Where are you from?
Atlanta, GA
2. What’s your favorite Open Explore activity?
I never get tired of spin art! Not just making it, but watching the reactions from kids and parents the first time they make it.
3. What Maker Studio excites you the most?
Electronics! There are so many cool things in there. Sometimes I get inspiration for workshops just by looking through all the electronic components that we have.
4. Do you have a favorite workshop or program you helped develop?
I’ve had a lot of fun working with our Excel Beyond the Bell coding program. Since it’s still fairly new, I’ve had the freedom to experiment with different projects and tailor the curriculum to the interests of my students. What started as a basic Scratch class has now branched out to include programming with Hummingbird, Arduino, Makey Makey, and more.
5. What’s something you’ve made that you’re most proud of?
I’m really proud of the gear puzzle that I made for Spark Behind the Science Day. That project allowed me to spend a lot of time with “George,” our new Glowforge laser cutter.
Also, I recently taught a bubble machine workshop. It was by far the most difficult project that I’ve prototyped here at KID. So many of my initial ideas didn’t work out, which was frustrating, but I persevered and got it to work!
6. What’s one of the best parts of being a Maker Educator at KID Museum?
I love working with educators who have such a wide range of professional and educational backgrounds. It’s so much fun to brainstorm and learn from each other — we even have professional development sessions for one another. And any time I’m having trouble with a prototype that I’m working on or a lesson plan that I’m developing, there are always people around me who are willing to help.
7. Why did you decide to go into education, or specifically, maker education?
I got a job working at a science and engineering camp one summer during college. Teaching through science experiments and hands-on STEM activities was such an incredible introduction to the field of education. I loved seeing my kids’ disdain for science fade away as they realized that it could actually be a lot of fun. From that point on, I knew that I wanted to pursue education as a career.
8. If you weren’t in education, what would you be doing?
I studied biomedical engineering in college, so I’d probably be doing something related to medical technology. I’d also love to be a choir director. It would combine my love for teaching with my love for singing gospel music.
9. What’s your favorite snack for maker energy?
Cheetos!!!
10. When you’re not at KID, what would we find you doing?
Cooking, listening to podcasts, binge-watching old sitcoms, and browsing Pinterest for DIY projects and design inspiration.
