MakerSpace Reflections #makered #ctedu | Wanderings in the Labyrinth On Tuesday, I’m participating as a moderator and discussion-group leader with the Connecticut Education group on Twitter, talking about MakerSpaces in schools. That’s on Twitter from 8:00pm to 8:30pm (eastern time), on Tuesday 28 July 2015, on the #ctedu hashtag. My co-moderators are David Saunders, who wrote about this makerspaces conversation here, and Nicholas Provenzano, otherwise known as the Nerdy Teacher. Origins But it occurred to me that I should write about this a bit beforehand, so that people know where I’m coming from. 1. The temptation for most new teachers in any design program is to teach content, I think, because that’s what schools do. 2. At the moment, the Design Lab has a couple of massive cardboard boxes, a pile of scrap lumber, and some awkwardly-sized pieces of styrofoam laying around. 3. You are now a First Aid Provider. Yikes. 4. The temptation is to end every program right at the bell. 5. Unless you are already a Maker, you are going to have to become one. 6.
Maker Education - About Maker Education Reflecting on Becoming a Maker Educator | Margaret A. Powers As I wrap up my work for CEP811, a course focused on the Maker Movement and adapting innovative technologies to education, I took time to reflect on all of the different projects I have worked on over the past seven weeks. I realized that each project was a piece of a larger #MakerEd puzzle. The thread of making runs through them all and by engaging in each one of them (e.g., remixing, playful exploration, creating lesson plans and assessments, etc), educators can begin to own and embody the mindsets associated with the Maker Movement. Stepping back to look at each project, I reorganized them in a cycle that I think could help educators begin to dip their toes into making and become more comfortable with it before integrating it into their teaching and later their classroom (design) and everyday practice. Although I organized the cycle to be completed as an ongoing, step-by-step process, educators could jump in at any point. The Maker Educator Cycle (click to see links) Like this: Related
Making MAKEing More Inclusive Update/Addendum: Last evening I traveled to Albuquerque with a friend to see the makerspace there and attend their monthly meeting. It is a very well-appointed makerspace and there was good attendance for the meeting. I discussed with my friend on the drive back home my concern with the homogeneous demographic make-up of those in attendance. They were mostly white men and women who seemed to have a comfortable income. I stated that given that this makerspace is fairly well established with a five year history, the folks running the space should now be more proactive in increasing the diversity of their membership and becoming more inclusive. The maker movement and maker education, in my perspective, are such great initiatives – really in line with what student-centric education should be in this era of formal and informal learning. Social media has helped me see more of the big picture and become aware of some of the problems associated with the maker movement. Like this: Like Loading...
Reflecting on the Making Process My background is in experiential education. One of the strategies used in experiential education is debriefing or reflecting on the experience. In other words, learning from direct experience is not left to chance. The educator becomes proactive in debriefing or processing the experiences to increase the chances that learning occurs. This is in line with John Dewey’s ideas: ‘We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.’ A recent research study published via Harvard Business Review concluded that: Learning from direct experience can be more effective if coupled with reflection-that is, the intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience.Reflecting on what has been learned makes experience more productive.Reflection builds one’s confidence in the ability to achieve a goal (i.e., self-efficacy), which in turn translates into higher rates of learning. A Maker Reflection: The Game Like this: Like Loading...
Connecting Makerspaces to Authentic Learning I love the idea of making, inventing and tinkering. Just watch kids who are immersed in the activities and you can see the engagement. But is the learning authentic and relevant? I presented three sessions at the Free Maker Movement event at One Work Place on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 with some amazing educators who presented hands-on activities. I decided I needed to spend some time researching where the Maker Movement was happening and find examples of authentic learning. I read Jackie Gerstein‘s post: MAKE STEAM: Giving Maker Education Some Context where she wrote “recent discussions with other educators and administrators made me realize that the idea of maker education is often vague and seems unrealistic in terms of regular classroom instruction.” @jackiegerstein I reached out to Shannon McClintock Miller, @shannonmiller, who is a Teacher Librarian at Van Meter Elementary in Iowa. “We as librarians and educators and as peoplewho care about young people need to CHANGE!”
Bridge to the Future: Creating Maker Mindsets in Girls Monday was a really average day for us in 8C. It was one of those "blah" days where the students weren't engaged and I wasn't really engaged; Nothing too drastic but basically the day was just a bit forgettable. Not one of my finer teaching moments........ Never mind; Tuesday was awesome! "Awesome Tuesday" had seen the girls heavily involved in Makerspace tasks and unsurprisingly they were highly engaged and motivated by this learning. Our Makerspace program continues to evolve and we are seeing huge benefits for our girls. Here are four ways Selwyn House is nurturing a maker mindset in our girls. 1. Makerspace in Maths Recently, in Year 7 and 8 we've been making in Maths with a focus on animation. Makerspace in Literacy There are many examples of this throughout the school but I particularly love this example created by some Year 4 students who had been writing in the fantasy genre. 2. This is also the time when the girls get their first experiences of new equipment. 3. 4.
The Educator as a Maker Educator: the eBook I compiled all of my blog posts about Maker Education into an ebook that I published via Amazon Kindle. The price is $3.99. It can be accessed at The pieces include theoretical ideas, informal research-observations, ideas related to the educator as a maker educator, the maker education process, suggestions for implementation, and reflecting on the making process. Graphics and infographics created to support the chapter content are included. The Table of Contents: IntroductionThe Perfect Storm for Maker EducationIs It Project-Based Learning, Maker Education or Just Projects? Like this: Like Loading...
How the Maker Movement Is Transforming Education How the Maker Movement is Transforming Education By Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary S. Stager The Maker Movement, a technological and creative learning revolution underway around the globe, has exciting and vast implications for the world of education. New tools and technology, such as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, wearable computing, e-textiles, “smart” materials, and programming languages are being invented at an unprecedented pace. The Maker Movement creates affordable or even free versions of these inventions, while sharing tools and ideas online to create a vibrant, collaborative community of global problem-solvers. Fortunately for teachers, the Maker Movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. One might try to marginalize robotics or 3D fabrication as having nothing to do with “real” science and dismiss such activities as play or as just super-charged hobbies. “Hard Fun” and the Process of Design Celebrating Young Talent
Inspiring the Next Generation of Makers Karen Cator is President & CEO of Digital Promise. You can follow her on Twitter at @kcator. Right now, in your city or town — in your state and region — people are making things. They’re part of the Maker Movement, a revolution that’s unleashing digital design tools (like 3D modeling software) and production devices (like 3D printers), and letting citizens design and make almost anything they can dream. Around the country, hundreds of schools and communities have harnessed the power of making to offer more compelling and effective 21st century learning opportunities for students. That’s why, in partnership with the Maker Education Initiative, we’re launching the Maker Promise, a campaign to equip more citizens with the tools they need to enable students to design, invent, and make. Maker education — or learning activities that incorporate the creativity of student-centered design and result in novel digital or physical creations — is a 21st century pedagogy for today’s students.