Budget Exercise for user designed STEAM

A budget exercise for a developing a user-designed makerspace or STEAM Lab. While time intensive, involving students in researching materials and proposing a budget will ensure a user-designed space. This exercise intentionally has a lot of blank worksheets and is very general, as every budget will be different and every space will have different visions and goals.

When I did a test of this exercise with my after school students, it far exceeded my expectations, in that my diverse group of students were able to almost unanimously decide how to spend the money and still come under budget. Throughout the year, students were excited to use the materials and supplies they had decided to get.