SHAWNEE — Fifth-grader Bella Bartlomi sits at a table full of circuits and small robots, trying to connect the right circuits to make a small wheel spin. Instructors are standing by in the room, called a “makerspace,” but let the students at the suburban Kansas City elementary school figure out things by themselves.
Eventually, she finds the right combination, showing off the spinning wheel with a big smile. “It makes me feel smart,” she said. “I made it work. I tried to figure out how to make this move and I did it, by myself.”