Table of Contents
What Is Maker Learning?
Constructivism is about learning skills and concepts through creation or creation. More than merely “hands-on” activities, constructivism is about engaging students in their own educational process by fostering personal connections between textbook concepts. science and their application in “real-world” situations. This theory helps students establish personal meaning and cultivate an interest in the material and the people they work with as well as the work itself.
According to Administrator Magazine, educators across the country are using constructivism by pairing it with technology in a movement dubbed the “designer movement.” As more and more elementary and middle schools adopt curricula that include subjects like coding, design projects, and information literacy, teachers are finding unique ways to empower students to apply these skills throughout the curriculum.
Maker educators challenged students to use technology to create something they learned from textbooks. Some students have created videos that reflect the literary principles they learned in reading class, others have used 3D printers to build airplanes or rocket models, and others have created pages. web for their classroom lessons.
Educators have found that students are excited about the maker learning movement simply because it invites them to embrace their creative impulses. Some teachers offer guidelines to leave room for creative interpretation, allowing students to decide for themselves the purpose of their projects and the type of technology they will use. Others give specific instructions or define allowed tools that students can use to create their work.
Benefits
By asking students to “re-engineer” concepts learned in class, teachers find that their students retain and understand the material on a deeper level. Because learning from creators requires students to be intimately familiar with the course material, they find that they not only gain mastery of the subject, but also technology skills.
One of the main benefits of using a learning program in the classroom is that it gives students a sense of control over their own learning. Studies cited in a Digital Promise article show that students give their best and receive the greatest educational benefits when empowered to manage. They feel motivated to learn what interests them and what matters to them. Introducing and rewarding self-motivated learning projects further helps students as they grow into adolescence, where independent learning becomes a much more important part of their education.
Most teachers, regardless of their students’ learning styles, find that asking students to work in groups builds the social skills and camaraderie necessary for a child’s education. . Constructive learning is the idea that learning occurs through construction and that students will benefit from learning that construction occurs in social contexts.
Courses and Curriculum Classroom Design is part of Louisiana Monroe University’s Curriculum, Program, and Doctor of Education. Teachers and education professionals enrolled in this online program conduct research and experience creator learning in a number of different contexts.
Perhaps this experience made me realize two dangers when we plunge into Person-centered learning.
1. Baby comes out with bath water
When we add Maker Education time to our curriculum, we eliminate time that would otherwise be spent on subjects. Often, this also results in the elimination of contact time with experts in the subject. We must ensure that this transaction has a net positive impact on the quality of education we provide. Giving students time to invent, collaborate, and create is all well and good, but we must be careful not to cut out the opportunity to learn from experts in the process.
2. Work and Learning come to a standstill
As more and more schools buy technology from manufacturers and spend time building open projects, there is a growing need to create connections between homes. Project production and learning content. I have seen schools become increasingly disconnected as their creative space has become a tightly guarded resource used only by a select few. This can easily lead to rancor in a school, as other departments see no more than a drain on their own budgets.
Maker Ed is interdisciplinary in nature and its benefits can only be fully realized when students and teachers learn to integrate multidisciplinary ideas and concepts into their creations. In short, it is imperative that work and study support each other.
When we focus too much on production, we end up with a feverish handful of 3D printers producing thirty nearly identical luggage tags because learning gets lost in the excitement of using technology . When we focus too much on learning, we end up with students full of knowledge but with no idea of its practical application in the world. The Maker Apprentice aims to be a meeting place between professionals in the field and creators in the maker space.
