Book excerpt: The maker movement culture emphasizes informal, peer-led, and shared learning, while driving innovation. Even though some experts view the maker movement as a move backward to pre-industrial revolution manufacturing, the purpose of making is not to have an abundance of tools in one space; rather, it is about helping participants create personally meaningful projects with the help of mentors, experts, and peers in ad-hoc learning communities. American Perspectives on Learning Communities and Opportunities in the Maker Movement is an essential reference source that discusses the maker movement in the United States, artisanal perspectives, and the learning-through-doing perspective. Featuring research on topics such as educational spaces, management, creativity labs, makerspaces, and operating procedures, this book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, artisans, academicians, researchers, manufacturing professionals, and students.