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Visit CORE Education's page on Maker Culture

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Think of learning at its earliest stage: a baby learning to play with blocks or manipulate objects in three dimensional space. It's something our human brains are hard-wired to do and acts, like putting one block on top of another, or knocking things down to see how they fall, has informed countless theories of learning upon which we base our education system. Researchers like Dewey and Piaget talk about constructivism - suggesting that learning is an active process in which people actively construct knowledge from their experience in the world. People don't get ideas; they make them.

This idea of making, of building, of constructing has a strong basis in research. Active learning increases the rate of learning faster than passive learning. Simply watching others build or make things fire up parts of our brain that are left untouched by passive learning.

The maker movement is all about putting the making back into learning. The man known as the godfather of the maker movement - Seymour Papert - talks about constructionism, arguing that people construct new knowledge with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful products. Important to the process is the presentation of those products to an interested, authentic audience.

What are the drivers for a maker culture?

While the maker movement has been around in many forms, it's only now that we're starting to see technology catch up with our aspirations for a powerful, active, authentic education. Think of the arrival of the first personal computers, and, in particular, those early dot matrix printers. Computers were great, but they took a step up when you could build something useful with them - like endless badly designed birthday party invitations, and school project title pages.

But, think of what we have access to now - particularly affordable access. 3D printers for one thing. Last week we broke the bracket that holds up the towel rail in our bathroom. The first thing I thought was not, Oh, we've broken it. It was 'I wish we had a 3D printer', because I could scan the broken part with the camera on my phone and printer a replacement. It's a geeky first thought - but, hey! That's me. And it's conceivable that there will be some form of 3D printer in many homes in the foreseeable future. The costs have really come down, from $5000 or $6000 a few years ago to around $1500 now. This hasn't gone unnoticed in schools, with a number that I know of having 3 or 4 for learners to prototype designs and build actual solutions for real world problems. Is your Nan having trouble plugging the jug in because of her arthritis? There's your year 7 technology project. Learning about insects for science? Design and print a bug hotel that you can attach to a tree or a fence for insects to live in. It's all made possible by the magic of 3D printing and a range of 3D modelling software tools - many of which are open source and able to be installed on any computer learners have access to.

A big part of this process is the design thinking that goes around it: deeply inquiring into the problem you're trying to solve before developing a range of different solutions, and iteratively improving the most promising ones. That's right at the heart of one of the trickiest values of the New Zealand Curriculum, that of innovation. How do we teach our kids to be innovators and entrepreneurs? Not necessarily for people to go out and make fortunes with the next big idea, but people who've got ideas - good ones that improve the lives of those around them - whether that's in business or not - communities, families, the whole world. We need a bit more of that stuff.

Another driver of the maker movement has been the emergence of a powerful suite of small electronic microprocessors - little computers that you can program with a bit of code and have do all sorts of interesting things. Often they snap together with little extra like light or movement sensors or bluetooth and wireless modules, and all of a sudden you've got something you can attach a solar panel and a rechargeable battery to, and you've got a completely self-contained, internet-connected data gathering tool. So what do you want to know? How many sunlight hours there have been each day this month? What the maximum temperature has been every day this week? How cool would that be? Kids building the datalogger they use to complete their totally authentic, integrated mathematics or science unit on the environment. The Arduino and the Raspberry Pi might sound like funny names, but they are essentially tiny, extremely affordable computers that kids can add to like lego. This freedom and creativity is right at the heart of the maker movement.

What is the impact of this trend?

Another thing that is right at the heart of the maker movement is this mashing together of traditionally siloed areas. Art, technology, design, music, film, science all come crashing together in the maker movement. Want to sew a circuit into the hoodie you wear when you ride your bike home so that an arrow made of LED lights on your back indicates which way you're turning? Piece of cake. What about creating an interactive sculpture that changes colour depending on the kind of music you play in the room? No trouble.

So what's the impact of all this possibility on learning? For one thing we've got more chance to unleash student creativity than ever before. And we've got the chance to really connect our learning to the real world for another. We can solve real-world problems and give students the kind of voice and confidence that they need.

Implications and challenges

Learning needs to continue to move from giving kids answers to memorise, to giving them problems to solve. Our learners have the ability to shape and bend all sorts of technology to meet their needs - we need to make sure we're giving them plenty of opportunities to do it. Design thinking and design processes need to be central to our planning, not only to meet learners' needs, but also to give them opportunities to meet others' needs. We can start small:

Grab a little electronics starter kit that doesn't need soldering skills or even a good understanding of circuits, and see what your kids can do with it.

Talk to your principal about getting a 3D printer.

Download something like Sketchup so kids can start playing around.

Because, it's this playfulness that's at the heart of the maker movement.

Learn, participate, and share:

CORE staff are using Bundlr to collate links to articles and information relating to learner orientation in a Bundlr collection. There is the option for you to choose to follow the growing collection over the next few months.

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Think of learning at its earliest stage: a baby learning to play with blocks or manipulate objects in three dimensional space. It's something our human brains are hard-wired to do and acts, like putting one block on top of another, or knocking things down to see how they fall, has informed countless theories of learning upon which we base our education system.

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Stories about Maker Education on Edutopia

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Stories about Maker Education on Edutopia

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George Lucas Educational Foundation Celebrating 30 years

How are educators harnessing the energy of the maker movement to inspire student exploration across multiple subjects? Discover resources and share advice.

Schools don't need a lot of money or a dedicated space to try maker education-a cart with some basic materials will suffice.

Makerspaces build students' cognitive abilities while fostering independence, perseverance, and self-regulation.

Emily Pilloton, Founder of Studio H, a design/build class at REALM Charter School and Girls Garage both in Berkeley, California, describes how she "knew there were things about architecture and design that could have a deep impact in the classroom."

All points of arts integration -- from benefits and implementation to linking the arts with core curriculum -- are covered in this roundup of useful Edutopia blog posts, articles, and videos.

Combining science and literature can help students engage more deeply with both subjects.

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George Lucas Educational Foundation Celebrating 30 years How are educators harnessing the energy of the maker movement to inspire student exploration across multiple subjects? Discover resources and share advice. Schools don't need a lot of money or a dedicated space to try maker education-a cart with some basic materials will suffice.

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Resource links from National Library

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Services to Schools | National Library of New Zealand

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Discover and explore digital resources that will connect students to New Zealand's history and culture. Develop your understanding of how these resources can be used to inspire and support inquiry learning. The resources will be credible, reliable, and freely available to schools. You'll take away practical ideas, knowledge, and skills to share with your students and school staff.

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PLAYED CURRICULUM FOR THE FUTURE? Now use the links on this padlet to keep feeding your thinking....

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PLAYED CURRICULUM FOR THE FUTURE? Now use the links on this padlet to keep feeding your thinking....

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There are no right answers here, but there's a lot to consider!

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READ ME FIRST! IDEAS ON HOW TO USE THIS PADLET

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READ ME FIRST! IDEAS ON HOW TO USE THIS PADLET

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Look for articles that grab you. Read them!

Look for questions that get you thinking.

Find someone to talk to about what you're reading or thinking

"Remake" this padlet! (Look in the upper right corner of your screen.

Use your own "remade" padlet to post your thoughts, ideas, reflections, and questions.

Think of questions that interest you, and do your own further research. Post your findings and thoughts on your padlet.

What about doing your own drawings, voice recordings, or videos?

Share your padlet with friends, classmates, and colleagues.

Whatever you do, make sure your use of padlet adheres to padlet's content policy

Tweet us!

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HAVEN'T PLAYED CURRICULUM FOR THE FUTURE?

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HAVEN'T PLAYED CURRICULUM FOR THE FUTURE?

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What are you waiting for!

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"A strangely addictive game that gets you thinking differently about education"

Curriculum for the Future: The Digital Game is designed to generate thought-provoking conversations about learning and curriculum today and in the future. It's a fun way to think about complex ideas and it's great for playing with a group of people who care about what we will learn in the future. Players get to choose a curriculum and juggle multiple points of view as they try to convince a panel of citizens.

Visit the Curriculum for the future microsite to learn more about the game

VISIT MICROSITE

PLAY ONLINE NOW

Download the app for your iPad or Tablet:

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Curriculum for the Future: The digital game

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"A strangely addictive game that gets you thinking differently about education" Curriculum for the Future: The Digital Game is designed to generate thought-provoking conversations about learning and curriculum today and in the future. It's a fun way to think about complex ideas and it's great for playing with a group of people who care about what we will learn in the future.

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Ready to argue for the maker curriculum in a live action role play game?

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Ready to argue for the maker curriculum in a live action role play game?

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They'll learn in the future...But what will they learn?

What is Curriculum for the Future: The Role Play Game?

Curriculum for the Future: The Role Play Game is one in a series of three resources designed to generate thought-provoking conversations about learning and curriculum today and in the future. The game was originally designed for adults, but can be adapted for use with older students.

Curriculum for the Future: The Role Play Game invites you to take on responsibility for shaping the future of curriculum for young New Zealand learners. The game is designed to give players the opportunity to debate different curriculum ideas and possibilities. It is fast, fun, research-informed and low-tech. Players can try out ideas that might seem outlandish or unworkable in current real life. They can argue for positions that they may or may not really agree with or even fully understand. By thinking on their feet and listening to the ideas that come up during the game, players will gain insights into the complexities of curriculum design and development, and challenge their own thinking about the purposes of education and what schooling might be like in the future.

For more background on the development of this game, read the blog post The Making of Curriculum for the Future: The role play game

The role play game can also be used along with:

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Curriculum for the Future: The role play game

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Curriculum for the Future: The Role Play Game is one in a series of three resources designed to generate thought-provoking conversations about learning and curriculum today and in the future. The game was originally designed for adults, but can be adapted for use with older students.

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Two teenage brothers build electronic toys from recycled materials.

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Palestinian Farmers Under Occupation Peppa Pig Toys English Peppa Pig Compilation

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Wens and Adlin Dimanche are teen inventors in Haiti who build electronic toy trucks out of trash. They started making the trucks after their parents couldn't afford to buy them any. Shot by video journalist Jean Tibert for AJ+.

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What is it?

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Craftivism is a form of activism, typically incorporating elements of anti-capitalism, environmentalism, solidarity, or third-wave feminism, that is centered on practices of craft - or what can traditionally be referred to as "domestic arts". Craftivism includes, but is not limited to, various forms of needlework including yarn-bombing or cross-stitch.

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A new way of thinking about science and technology education.

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Welcome to makerpedagogy.org, the online presence of the SSHRC-funded project entitled Developing a Maker Pedagogy led by Dr. Shawn Michael Bullock.

Our research project seeks to interrupt traditional approaches to science teacher education by foregrounding principles of Maker thinking - hack, adapt, design, create - in a teacher education program and in the early years of a teaching career.

A working definition of what we mean by MakerPedagogy is found here.

The overarching objectives of this project are to:

1. Introduce early-career science teachers to what might be called Maker Pedagogy

2. Describe, analyze, and interpret how early-career science teachers learn from experiences in a Maker Space

3. Determine the extent to which a shared commitment to a Maker Space might support induction and mentoring for new teachers

4. Contribute a tangible pedagogical initiative to the often disjointed, yet enthusiastic, conversation about "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education

Please check this website frequently for news about how our research is progressing and to read our latest blog posts.

All inquiries should be directed to Dr. Shawn Bullock: sbullock (at) sfu (dot) ca

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About Maker Pedagogy - makerpedagogy.org

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Welcome to makerpedagogy.org, the online presence of the SSHRC-funded project entitled Developing a Maker Pedagogy led by Dr. Shawn Michael Bullock. Our research project seeks to interrupt traditional approaches to science teacher education by foregrounding principles of Maker thinking - hack, adapt, design, create - in a teacher education program and in the early years ...

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Making dioramas and observational drawings to reflect on a museum gallery visit.

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This blog provides an excellent opportunity not only for us to share with you, but for you to share with each other.

How do you use our museum as a learning resource? What do you find to be best practice? Why are museum and gallery experiences important for your tamariki?

This story comes from ngā kaiako (teachers), Maiangi and Becs, of Tai Tamariki Kindergarten:

Kia ora,

Recently the children of Tai Tamariki Kindergarten visited the Aztecs: Conquest and Glory exhibition at Te Papa. Many of them did some observational drawings of things that took their interest - the ceramic pots with fierce faces; the huge temple with the little people on top; the stone statues - particularly the 'God of Death'; and an amazing diorama of a traditional Aztec marketplace.

"If you listen carefully", said April T, " you can hear the sounds of a real marketplace in Mexico."

We spent a lot of time really taking in all the tiny details - the people selling fish, pots, oranges, cloth...

"If I was there, I would be a man" said Nika, "...oh, no, I would be a small child."

Our tamariki also took great interest in the chinampas display, with it's floating fruit and vegetable gardens too!

We looked at the pretend water in the exhibition made of resin. What could we use to create this effect? Ice and jelly were two suggestions.

We thought - how fun it would be to make our own 'Aztec Market' dioramas at Kindy using modelling clay and anything else we might think of!?

Our 3 and 4 year old tamariki worked on this project over the following 3 weeks or so, using mixed media, and based on their own drawings made at the exhibition. They used the skills they have been practicing since starting Kindy to make them.

These diorama pieces make up our very own Aztec Market, and are on display in our very own display case - of which our tamariki are very proud.

Take a look at some of the children's observational drawings:

We have also enjoyed some Mexican inspired cooking and eating as part of our interest in the Aztec exhibition.

Here we are making guacamole and mexican sugar cookies. We tried some different recipes using the grain, amaranth!

We looked at some traditional Aztec head-dresses and drew our own feathers!

April said, " I'm an Eagle Warrior!", remembering the statue she had seen in the exhibition, and in the images we had printed out at Kindy.

Our tamariki were interested in going inside the Aztec temple, and remembered the spider projection crawling up the walls. Back at Kindy we made our own spiders to hang in cobwebs above the sandpit!

Ngā tamariki have expressed some of what they have seen and learnt during their exhibition visits through socio-dramatic play! Kaiako Andrea made some awesome Aztec inspired outfits and we have had many small Aztecs at Kindergarten role playing such things as tending to crops, and selling fish and vegetables at the market.

The children have been the subject of some Aztec photos - and have explained some of their poses.

"This is a fighting move, because that's what Aztecs do"

"This is how Aztecs drink"

These pictures have been transformed into our very own Tai Tamariki diorama - it looks a bit like our mini Aztecs might pop out of their box at any moment!

We also took part in the Te Papa Early Years Aztec programme, called Connecting with the Aztecs. Our tamariki had a great time learning about some of the ways their lives were different and the same as the Aztecs.

It was also a real treat to make our own 3D wheeled animal toys (like the Aztecs had), which we raced up and down the classroom. The children where asked to choose an animal to make that they felt they had some connection with. This is because the Aztecs believed they each had a special animal. There were lots of different selections - someone even made a dinosaur toy because they were really good at roaring! The toys were decorated with geometric patterns.

As you can see, the Aztecs exhibition lead us to explore lots of new interests and many different curriculum domains!

In order to connect the different learning environments, and provoke further interest, the Kindergarten environment was filled with Aztec inspired resources - Aztec patterns were put around the art area and beside coloured shape blocks; home made dressups were created; images of Aztec objects were placed around the Kindergarten; and we made our own books to document our travels and what we had seen and learnt. Learning documentation and creations were displayed proudly for our whānau, friends and visitors to see.

The Aztec exhibition has been inspiring for both Kaiako and tamaraki, and we will be off for another visit soon. I wonder what we will discover next!?
Some comments from the tamariki about the exhibition:
Kaiya: "The Aztecs lived in America. The Aztecs made sacrifices to the gods to make them happy...but the gods are not even real...They killed a leopard beacuse they wanted to make a korowai."

Isla: " They were selling food in the market and some were fishing on boats. The ones you could hear if you listened carefully were standing on real sand."
Children's favourite parts of the exhibition:
* The temple

* The rubber ball

* The character trail stamps

* The non-fiction books
Thank you for sharing your story Tai Tamariki! What amazing historical enquiry you have done!

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Tai Tamariki Kindergarten explore the Aztecs

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This blog provides an excellent opportunity not only for us to share with you, but for you to share with each other. How do you use our museum as a learning resource? What do you find to be best practice? Why are museum and gallery experiences important for your tamariki?

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Research to explore documentation and assessment strategies in the Maker Classroom

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Research to explore documentation and assessment strategies in the Maker Classroom

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Project Zero's Agency by Design team is developing documentation and assessment tools for maker-centered learning and "maker empowerment", which they see as the key to ensuring that the maker movement secures a long-term place in education and pedagogy.

From 2012 to 2015, the Agency by Design research team explored the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning. As a result of this multi-year study, the A bD team-supported by our teacher partners in Oakland, CA and across the United States-developed a framework for maker-centered learning accompanied by a host of pictures of practice, thinking routines, and other educator resources.

In addition to the core research findings associated with this first phase of work, we have also come to understand what important questions still remain to be addressed in this rich opportunity space. Specifically, we now see developing qualitative assessment strategies as the next frontier of research for maker-centered learning. In fact, we don't think it is an exaggeration to say that if maker-centered learning is to be more than a passing trend, it is imperative to establish a means to gauge the real benefits of such learning experiences. To address this need, the Agency by Design research team has embarked upon a second phase of research geared towards developing innovative maker-centered documentation and assessment tools.

Though many will be quick to develop pre-/post- assessment measures that gauge student performance in the STEM subjects, as we have learned from our conversations with maker-centered educators and thought leaders throughout the United States, beyond acquiring knowledge and skills in the STEM subjects, educators at the epicenter of maker-centered learning view the dispositional concept of maker empowerment as a primary-if not essential-student outcome. This being the case, our research team has become deeply aware of the importance of developing strategies that gauge this core principle.

The challenge of documenting and assessing maker empowerment is a tricky one. Not unlike many other desirable educational outcomes and " 21st Century Skills," maker empowerment may be understood as an abstract concept with few tangible indicators. Nonetheless, as A bD's work has shown, having a sensitivity to design is foundational to supporting maker empowerment. We believe that the three elements of the Agency by Design instructional framework- looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity -are concrete capacities that support the development of a sensitivity to design, which therefore may be documented, made visible, and assessed.

With these ideas in mind, our second phase of research will be guided by the following questions:

1. How can learners make visible their ability to look closely, explore complexity, and find opportunity?

2. How can teachers qualitatively measure students' performance within the realm of these three core maker capacities?

3. How can we collaborate with students and teachers to design a suite of practical documentation and assessment tools best suited to the development of maker empowerment?

Once again supported by the Abundance Foundation, this next phase of research will be centered around a collaboration with a professional learning community in Oakland, CA. It is our hope that by collaborating with this diverse group of educators working in a variety of teaching and learning environments, we may be able to develop, test, remix, retest, and refine a suite of contemporary assessment strategies designed to document, enrich, and support maker empowerment across all learning environments.

As we embark upon this exciting next phase of research, we are curious to hear from our colleagues in the broader maker-centered learning community. How do you document and assess learning in your own maker-centered classrooms? What tools and strategies have you used to support student agency and character building through maker-centered learning? What do you need documentation and assessment tools to do for you-and what opportunities and challenges have you encountered in this work?
Originally Published at Project Zero

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Launching a New Phase of Research for Agency by Design: Exploring Documentation and Assessment Strategies for the Maker-Centered Classroom

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Project Zero's Agency by Design team is developing documentation and assessment tools for maker-centered learning and "maker empowerment", which they see as the key to ensuring that the maker movement secures a long-term place in education and pedagogy. From 2012 to 2015, the Agency by Design research team explored the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning.

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Being a business owner isn't on most 17-year-olds' agendas. But for Georgia Lala it is a reality.

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Being a business owner isn't on most 17-year-olds' agendas.

But for Georgia Lala it is a reality.

While her friends were busy enjoying the summer holidays, she was in the thick of starting up Root Aquaponics.

The system recycles fish waste and the bacteria that naturally occurs in a tank to generate food for the plants which grow on top.

Georgia has always been a keen gardener but circumstances have often got in her way.

"We used to live above an antiques shop.

"I'd try grow things outside but it was very rocky so I was always growing things in pots and trying to come up with solutions."

When they moved to the new residential development in Stonefields a new set of problems cropped up.

"There is limited space here and with it being new soil it was hard to grow anything even for experienced gardeners so I started looking at what I could do indoors."

That is when Georgia came upon aquaponics.

"There was a lot of information on large scale aquaponics where ponds were being used to grow crops," she says.

"But it wasn't being applied the same way on a small home scale."

So she got herself a fish tank and started tinkering.

Soon there were several prototypes and happy goldfish dotted around the house.

Once she had perfected the system she started to think about the big picture and how she could share the idea.

"I had this wild idea and I decided to send this one-off email to Auckland Council," she says.

"I feel really lucky because I got back this email from someone involved in Enviroschools with this truckload of information and everything just fell into place after that."

She locked in a business model, found a commercial manufacturer and established contacts within schools.

"I wanted there to be a focus on schools because it is such a hands on way of learning about ecosystems and sustainability."

Georgia says the whole reuse, reduce, recycle mantra is an overused subject for her generation.

"We've had it drummed into us but it still has this stigma of being dirty and hard work."

"Something like this shows it can be modern and classy and that you can be more symbiotic with the earth and still keep up your own lifestyle."

Each time an aquaponics unit is purchased, 50 per cent of the profit goes towards funding a unit for a school or kindergarten.

The Diocesan School for Girls student has taken a display system into a number of schools to show the children and explain how it works.

"Seeing them look at it and understand was a great experience," she says.

"This has probably been one of the best things I've done in my life because it was something I never imagine I could, or would do."

Georgia says inspiring other youngsters is another driving force, and she's doing all that while tackling year 13.

"When I realised I could make a profit out of this idea, that was the weirdest, strangest realisation.

"As a school student it is hard to see where your own ideas can take you, this shows them there is a space for their ideas."

- Stuff

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Being a business owner isn't on most 17-year-olds' agendas. But for Georgia Lala it is a reality. While her friends were busy enjoying the summer holidays, she was in the thick of starting up Root Aquaponics. The system recycles fish waste and the bacteria that naturally occurs in a tank to generate food for the plants which grow on top.

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A year of hard work hangs in the balance for 13-year-old Patrick Roskam who is launching his invention, the Gudgeon Pro 5 in 1, at the Fieldays Innovation Centre this month.

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A year of hard work hangs in the balance for 13-year-old Patrick Roskam who is launching his invention, the Gudgeon Pro 5 in 1, at the Fieldays Innovation Centre this month.

Patrick won the Best Pitch Award at the SODA Inc Innovation Den last year, wowing the judges with his unique fencing tool which is used to quickly and accurately hang gates.

Following feedback at Fieldays, Patrick improved the product, which was originally conceived as a science fair project, to make it adjustable with a spirit level on top and tape measure down the side.

Patrick spent seven days with mum Angela, brother Edward (11) and sister Victoria (5) at the APL factory in Hamilton during the April school holidays assembling the first 500-edition run of the Gudgeon Pro.

"It was a huge commitment to do 500 units but it is my dream to get it to production," he said.

He hoped sales from the product would allow him to repay some of the hefty loan he took to fund production.

Despite only being 12 years old when he pitched his idea at the Innovation Den last year, Patrick overcame his nerves and spoke confidently to judges about his product.

"I was so proud to see him get up there by himself and speak; he didn't even hide behind the lecturn," Angela said.

Patrick wants to encourage others to enter the Innovation Den, as the networking and contacts he made were invaluable.

He said the mentoring from SODA Inc during the workshop was great, as well as practical as he now starts working on marketing.

Vodafone has also been instrumental in offering ongoing support and logo creation/branding.

"The Innovation Den is such an awesome launching board for people," Angela said.

"It was such a positive experience.

"We're extremely proud of Patrick. It has been a family effort but it is his baby and he has been involved the whole way through, from the idea right through to using the CNC machine and powder coating each unit."
-NZ Farmer

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A year of hard work hangs in the balance for 13-year-old Patrick Roskam who is launching his invention, the Gudgeon Pro 5 in 1, at the Fieldays Innovation Centre this month. Patrick won the Best Pitch Award at the SODA Inc Innovation Den last year, wowing the judges with his unique fencing tool which is used to quickly and accurately hang gates.

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Some cutting-edging science today relies on the centuries-old art of glassblowing.

When researchers in chemistry, physics and medicine need special glass tools for complex experiments, they sometimes sit down with a glassblower to sketch out designs for customized beakers, flasks and condenser coils.

New Jersey's Salem Community College is trying to keep that tradition going with the country's only degree program in scientific glassblowing. Housed among corn and soybean fields about an hour south of Philadelphia, the school's Glass Education Center in Alloway, N.J., specializes in one of the most popular materials in a research lab.

"It's clear. You can see what the experiments are doing. It holds no chemical history. And it can be shaped into any form you like," explains Dennis Briening, the instructional chair of the college's two-year scientific glass technology program. "Whatever your imagination is, it can be made."

His students learn how to make tools for research universities and glass manufacturers at workbenches across a row of glowing furnaces. As they blow into glass tubes, they hover over bright orange flames that reach as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough for those stiff tubes to bend like rubbery taffy and twist into candy-cane shapes or snake coils that look machine-made.

This is a craft with exacting requirements from scientists. Any mistakes in the glass could cause accidents and ruin an experiment.

"I always say a millimeter to a glassblower is a mile," says Briening, who has had to create glassware while holding a tolerance of one-thousandth of an inch. That's thinner than human hair, which is about two- to three-thousandth of an inch.

Besides patience with blueprints, the school's glassblowing students have to learn the basics of organic chemistry and computer drafting so, as Briening explains, they have a fuller understanding of how their glassware can be used. Over the past four years, the program has more than doubled its enrollment to now more than 100 students.

They're carrying on a tradition of scientific glassblowing that took off in the U.S. after imports of glassware from Germany was stemmed by World War I. Many students today are drawn to the program after catching what some call the "glass bug."

"Glass as a material is so captivating. It starts as a solid. You put it in fire. Everybody loves fire. And then it melts, and it's a liquid," explains Katie Severance, who graduated with an associate degree from the program and now teaches scientific glassblowing at the school. "It's like a beautiful dance, working with the material, getting to know it."

Neil Messinger started the program after studying glassblowing as a studio art and marketing student at The Ohio State University.

"It's fulfilling to me in the sense that I'm using my two hands to create something. I just love tangible objects, being able to say and hold something, like, 'I made this,' " says Messinger, after he gently pushes air into a glass bottle with a blow hose while gripping a blow torch in his right hand.

In between scientific glassblowing classes, he's already working for a company that makes glass parts used for gas chromatography. But he says he eventually he wants to make glass tools for labs working on cancer research.

"My mother, she had a bout with breast cancer. And I just don't want people to have to go through that," he says. "I feel like in this day and age, cancer is something that shouldn't be heard of."

One day, he hopes, cancer patients won't have to sit through radiation. After he graduates in the spring, he says maybe his scientific glassblowing can play some small part in making that day come sooner.

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Glassblowing Program Trains Students To Craft Tools For Science

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Some cutting-edging science today relies on the centuries-old art of glassblowing. When researchers in chemistry, physics and medicine need special glass tools for complex experiments, they sometimes sit down with a glassblower to sketch out designs for customized beakers, flasks and condenser coils.

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What did educators learn at the Maker Faire?

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What did educators learn at the Maker Faire?

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As Kristin Berbawy packed projects into her car, she lingered over one in particular. Two 3D-printed Makerbots with wire hooks-a pair of earrings. They matched the white braces on her teeth and the white strands in her hair. Her students had made them-as they had all the projects in her car-in their high school makerspace. She was proud of them. She was going to display their work to other teachers.

Smack in the middle of AP exams, a growing group of teachers is pouring time, creativity and energy into activities for which there are no standardized tests: makerspaces. The movement is avowedly grassroots and candidly quirky, and its main gathering is the Maker Educator Convening in Oakland, CA, where Kristin Berbawy was headed with a trunkload of laser cut wood and 3D printed objects.

Berbawy teaches science and engineering at Irvington High School in Fremont, CA, and she had come to display her students' projects and talk to educators about involving parents in maker education.

"I want them in the discussions, in classrooms, in makerspaces," she said. "I want them to understand that maker ed is a valuable option. Too many parents are obsessed with elite schools and AP classes. The companies that sponsor my makerspace tell me that just going to a four-year university does not a good worker make."

Kristin Berbawy at her Maker Ed Convening table

To be sure, the Maker movement is still young. Teachers talk about finding one another because schools that have maker labs are still the exception, not the rule. Of the 3.1 million teachers in the US, 200 attended the Maker Ed convening, a large increase from the previous year. Maker Faire estimated that there were 24 school maker faires across the world in 2015.

The nonprofit organization Maker Ed provides maker-oriented professional development for teachers and educators in both formal and informal settings. The organization aims to help educators infuse making into their pedagogy, whether that is a full-blown makerspace or a one-off after school activity. It held its second annual Maker Educator Convening on May 18, the Wednesday before Maker Faire.

Teachers presented to one another on maker-related topics, connected through workshops and small projects, watched "Most Likely to Succeed," a documentary about High Tech High. They also listened to Ignite Talks and a keynote speech by Nichole Pinkard, an associate professor of computing and digital media at DePaul University, and the founder of the Digital Youth Network.

For Jessica Parker, Education Community Manager with Maker Ed, the purpose of the event was to deepen the impact of maker education across the country. She wanted the Convening to connect teachers who have mastered maker educator with teachers who are just beginning to express their interest.

"The best way to share best practices isn't for us to hand them to someone else," she said. "It's for teachers to get together. This is an open community that wants to share both online and in person." She hopes bringing together educators from the different varieties of makerspaces-schools, museums, community centers and others-will shed light on the unique challenges of each and allow educators to cross pollinate.

"There is a natural divide because K-12 and informal educators don't have time to connect," she said. "Libraries and museums and schools are physically disconnected. But both types of educators can share their stories and their knowledge here, and each type knows a great deal about its learners."

Kristin Berbawy shared her experience creating Irvington High School's maker program and makerspace from scratch. Her advice to teachers considering the same boiled down to three key factors.

"Administrative buy-in, copying successful makerspaces and money," she said. "The first one is straightforward but not easy. The second requires visiting other spaces and broadening your community. The third can take several forms. Earning a Career Technical Education credential opens up a lot of grant opportunities; approaching companies about sponsorships and donations is also a good option."

A teacher makes something at Maker Ed Convening

Nora Peters, a maker educator at the Millvale Community Library in Pittsburgh, PA, said watching "Most Likely to Succeed" was the most validating point of the Convening. Roberts also gave a presentation on "What the 21st century library will look like," as she described it.

"On my Post It reflection after 'Most Likely to Succeed,' I just drew the 'praise hands' emoji," she said. "It's wonderful to see education being rethought in a way we all want and that's already being implemented. As for my presentation, I basically said that libraries will either rebrand or stick with the old model. We're at a tipping point."

Nicholas Cole-Farrell, the director of technology at the Brandeis K-8 school in San Francisco, presented after Roberts. He was promoting what he calls "lockpicking for good," that is, technical proficiency combined with ethics. Brandeis teaches Jewish ethics in its core curriculum, and Cole-Farrell hopes that other schools will teach some sort of moral code that will inform students' making. Cole-Farrell had come to the Maker Ed Convening to learn about how museums and community centers were introducing making to students and community members.

Educators weren't the only attendees. Shradda Chaplot, an engineer at Cisco who volunteers with young children at museums, said she learned a great deal about how to engage girls in STEM activities, one of her passion projects. She also found that the event added value to her professional life, too.

"I'm amazed at the engagement of educators," she said. "I think teachers and corporate employees should swap places every once in a while to encourage creativity. Adults learn to stop thinking creatively, but I still like thinking like a kid."

A few teachers shared their thoughts about the events on social media at #MakerEdConvening:

At the Maker Ed Convening

The First School Maker Faire

Maker Faire Bay Area, now in its tenth year, hosted the School Maker Faire on Friday, May 20, the morning before the convention began. Roughly 50 teachers gathered in a large, dark room to discuss the nuances and logistics of hosting Maker Faires at their schools across the country.

Sabrina Merlo, Maker Faire's Program Director, said the idea for the workshop came less from Maker Faire's leadership than from teachers themselves.

"We're just responding to momentum," she said. "This workshop is important, and people wanted it, so we worked with them to make it happen, just like the original Maker Faire came to be." She was confident that next year's flagship Faire would include another School Maker Faire.

Panelists at the first School Maker Faire answering a question about special education and makerspaces

Cindy Laurin, a parent who volunteers often with her children's homeschool charter school in the Santa Cruz mountains, said that she saw the most value in learning about new projects at the workshop. "I'm so excited about using a flashlight to teach math!" she said.

Lisa Kessler, a teacher who manages the Innovation Space at the Viewpoint School in Calabasas, CA, loved the project ideas but enjoyed connecting with like-minded teachers most.

"What we do is a unique job in many places. It definitely is in Calabasas. It's nice to see other people in similar shoes who we can collaborate and share ideas with. That's what's going to benefit our programs and, ultimately, our students."

She hoped to connect with both teachers and companies during Maker Faire proper. "I'm here to discover tools and products my school might invest in," Kessler said. There are resources online, but to sit here and have discussions with other teachers about what works and what they're looking for is incredibly helpful."

Travis Good, the Producer of Maker Faire San Diego, said he came to the workshop to both give support to teachers and to learn from them.

"I'm here to hear about the realities of teachers' daily lives. What are they up against?" he said. "My end goal is to send my team-I've had 600 volunteers involved in our Maker Faires-to schools in San Diego and say, 'If you want to do a maker faire, we're here.' I want them to know they're not alone."

Though he wants to help teachers, Good felt his findings indicate it's an uphill battle to start Maker Faires in schools.

"I can't even begin to imagine how much friction there is to embracing new things," he said. "It's shocking how much we ask of teachers. To allow making, they have to give more of themselves or not do something else."

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What Did Educators Learn at Maker Faire? - EdSurge News

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As Kristin Berbawy packed projects into her car, she lingered over one in particular. Two 3D-printed Makerbots with wire hooks-a pair of earrings. They matched the white braces on her teeth and the white strands in her hair. Her students had made them-as they had all the projects in her car-in their high school makerspace.

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Opinion piece: When tech culture only celebrates creation, it risks ignoring those who teach, criticize, and take care of others.

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When tech culture only celebrates creation, it risks ignoring those who teach, criticize, and take care of others.

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William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

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William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

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At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home.

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William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

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At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.