The Maker Movement: I would define a maker as someone who learns by doing. The maker movement is transforming our classrooms to foster makers. As Vicki Davis (2014) pulls resources to define the maker movement within schools, she comments that "these classrooms emphasize making, inventing, and creativity". Although there are many variations of what a maker is and what a makerspace looks like (there's another fun buzzword), the mindset and the concept is the same. I myself was able to experience the mind of a maker. I followed a certain process in order to view myself as a maker and ultimately create a lesson plan to implement within my classroom where my students are the makers.
Process Journals:
Journal #1- The onset of a challenge
Journal #2- The evolution of what if questions
Journal #3- Ding! Okay, how?
Children are creative innovators. As an educator, instead of quieting or diminishing their multitude of questions we would be smart to embrace the maker movement and move toward a more inquiry based and creative classroom. This is where deeper knowledge is fostered and students will be able to build on their innate capacity to create. As a third grade teacher, their questioning skills have declined rapidly and it is my duty to stop that before social pressures and society norms kick in. I really enjoy the fact that this is called the maker movement. This is an actionable concept. Jean Piaget, a psychologist known for his research on child development talked a lot about the learning theory, constructivism. He believes that learning is an active, contextualized process of constructing knowledge. That definition can be broken down into the 3 levels of TPACK. In order to be a quality teacher, technology, content, and pedagogy must meet in the sweet spot where they all three intersect. The moment can occur when the content area is taught using a makerspace mindset and opportunity for students to utilize high tech and/or low tech to display their thinking and learning process.
In the lesson plan that I have designed, students will solve an ever-living problem in my classroom. The purpose of using a makerspace lesson is that there are numerous possibilities. There are multiple entry points which allows all students to make connections and formulate potential ideas. The challenge: create something so that you can see your book better while the lights are off.
Here is the Lesson Plan I designed for this project.
My idea came together using paper circuits. After seeing these work in my own exploration and practice, I noted the possibility for my students. As I contemplated the maker problem, I pictured some sort of bookmark or clip I could put on my book that had a light I could switch on and off. From there, I got to work. As Berger (2014) so clearly explains it, "there comes a time to awake and go to work". As I previously mentioned, there is no one right way to solve this problem. My makerspace challenge is open ended which allows for variations to work. Students who may struggle with the circuits and choose to abandon that idea could explore the concept of light reflection in a mirror as an assistance. Another suggestion may be to allow students to focus on the issue itself. What makes the fluorescent lights so bad and can I do something to fix the light they emit so we don't have to turn them off? Speaking from a teacher who takes pride in planning everything to the last question, in order to meet the content area you are aiming for, you could also limit the tools students use. If that is circuits and positive and negative charges, then require a battery and an LED light to be used.
Helpful Tips and Suggestions: • Establish the mindset of flexible adaptation and the persistence and courage that a makerspace requires • Give time restrictions and provide the necessary scaffolds for students who need it • The lesson could become a group project or partner work depending on the age of your kids • For students who don't know where to start- I would first have students make the circuits then build their model around that • You could pull in other reading strategies as well for a curricular activity such as cause/effect, prediction, and sequencing.
My goal in this process was to develop creative thinkers who develop important skills as a learner. One of those skills is the ability to transfer. When students can take skills they've learned through exploration and by doing, that knowledge is at a deeper level and can then transfer to new problems and settings (Donovan, M. S., Bransford, J. D., & Pellegrino, J. W. (2000). The skill to take school-based learning into the real world is the ultimate goal for my students. I not only wish they are prepared but also excited to take any new challenges.
References
Berger, W. (2016). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. Bloomsbury.
Donovan, M. S., Bransford, J. D., & Pellegrino, J. W. (1999). How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice. National Academy Press.
Davis, V. (n.d.). How the Maker Movement Is Moving Into Classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/maker-movement-moving-into-classrooms-vicki-davis
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