From the video, I observed that by using the old technology and things that are already made up years ago, people are messing up with those products and maker space to modify those innovations and make incredible tools and technologies. Students will bring something new for sure if they are given proper guidance, tools and freedom in the maker space.

Interest is the awakening of the desire to learn, to critical thinking and creativity that makes learning meaningful. The world of mass-production or replication, where education of transmission of procedures was appropriate has now cycled back to the world of innovation and invention (like the car-culture), where maker approach  with interest being the first step is more ideal.

As we talked about in last week’s module, there is this shift where we want students to have more meaningful experiences. That shift in student-centric learning has come to fruition and creating projects that are authentic becomes key to learning. In the slide, it suggests that learning to think divergently or outside the box is inherit. It is that sense of problem-solving and solving a problem yourself that makes for these authentic learning experience we all want for our students.

As a PJ candidate, we can see how a divergent approach to Mathematics is a good thing as there are many ways to solve one problem and knowing multiple ways of doing things. Finding a way that works best for you is important. Science itself lends itself well to inquiry activities and promotes exploration, curiosity and discovery and branches into other subjects. For example, imagine learning about tornados or a similar natural disaster. How could we build homes that can withstand such forces? Such a project can involve the arts; building models and testing them out. Creating pamphlets or websites of your findings and informing others via through print, e-learning, or m-learning steps into Language and Digital Literacy. The design process would have to be circled a few times as better solutions and new understandings of the problem are developed to create the best possible solutions, plural.

The maker approach is not a new idea, but it sometimes something in the past we forget about. We all have that maker ability in us and we make because we are curious and trying to solve questions we come up with ourselves. This process fostering connections with others, the ability to take risks, and ultimately preparing those who embrace making for a world under a creative economy.

The one observation that sticks out to me is that making mistakes is part of the process. That failure is part of learning and the process itself is sometimes more important than the result. With an open mindset and with grit, goals can be met and with meaningful results. Providing students with an environment for making and making for the sake of making is needed. Being hands-on is the first step.

      For history, while  it is  not technology  based,  I think that  there is a way to promote the  same  kind of  innovation and  student centered, collaborative and problem solving approach, that is promoted  through makerspaces. If  history is presented as a series of problems to  be  solved, as opposed  to a long and boring  story, then  students could  collaborate on  finding  answers  to some of the major problems  within  the world, both past and present. This would also  be much more  engaging than  the traditional approach  to history  class 

Adam  Savage makes a case  for education  to return  to the  culture of  making,  to teach  students  critical thinking  skills, and  get them to be much more  engaged in school. I definitely  agree , especially in English and  History  class. School  as we know it was designed around the  Industrial Revolution, and was meant to produce factory workers. That is no longer the  case. We are now educating kids  for jobs  that don't exist yet, and  increasingly  collaborative work  environments. School  now,  especially  english and history, is not  built for that. I  feel like with   such a lot of   curriculum  to cover, and  with  such an  emphasis on  test scores,  there  is  not time or space for  kids  to  discover and  innovate.  They are taught the  test, and  develop  such  anxiety  about  getting it wrong. I definitely  agree  with  Savage  that we  live  in a risk  averse  culture, and  that it is deeply affecting the confidence of the  students. Regardless  of their future careers, they  have  to have the self esteem to be ok  with not  always getting it  right, and I think  that school, in such a controlled, almost risk free environment is the perfect place to develop  that, along  with  collaborative skills. The  entire education system  needs to  be redesigned  to include  these things, and especially  in english and  history class, where  it is often lectures and independent work.  

 

As a P/J teacher I think that the maker approach to education can be applied through all the curriculums and can be inclusive of all the curriculum. I think giving tasks to students that require higher order thinking and problem solving skills can assist with the 21^st century skills and global competencies. An example can be teaching about water conservation and water pollution. Students can be given the task of making and presenting their findings on the topics and making a world on Minecraft that displays their solutions. I think the building incorporates so many strands of math as well as can help with fundamental ideas of science and social studies. This is one idea that help tie in the key ideas of the curriculum while giving students an interesting outlet to learn and explore. 

 

 

An important point about maker from the video is the idea that making has the aspect of trial and error. I think the growth mindset gained from making is arguably one of the most important skills learned while making. We need to bring the growth mindset and the power of “I can’t do it, yet”. 

I think another observation I saw in the video about the constructionist approach that I think is lacking in our current education system is basing our teaching off the student’s interest. I think this can be formed from differentiated instruction and knowing your students. I think making, even in forms such as building mode on Minecraft, open endless opportunities for students to explore the idea of creating and learning from creating. I think as teachers we are stuck on teaching subjects separately, but many times a lot of the making incorporates almost every subject. There are some teaching that can be taught through a more rote or standard method, but most aspects of STEAM, as well as the other subjects are much better learned and incorporated through investigation and problem solving. 

 

 

The maker approach to education and the design process can both be incorporated into elementary subjects in several different ways. The maker approach to education emphasizes students participating in their own self-learning by performing inquiry and attempting to discover the answers to their own wonderings. This is naturally a very trial and error process as students propose solutions that they think might be correct but then discover through experimentation that the solution is not valid or wrong. The design process is very similar as the problem is first defined, then information is collected and designs for the solutions are proposed. These designs are then evaluated and feedback is used to improve on the design, which starts the process again. Recently, there has been a trend to get more inquiry-based education into classrooms and for teachers to use less paper and pencil worksheets and textbooks. The maker approach and the design process can be used to promote a growth mindset in students, allow students to explore their wonderings and do their own self-learning and build up their skills at using different types of modern technology. It also teaches students how to be resourceful and learn that failure is a part of learning. In terms of subjects that these principles could apply to, they can fit in all subject areas. Typically, these principles are used as part of STEM education to have students explore their scientific curiosities and wonderings. A great example of a STEM activity using these principles is to have students propose, create and test a solution to a local science issue or problem in their local community, such as global warming or pollution. Other subjects that these could apply to include art (create a building design that would only cost a certain amount of money) and literacy (re-create a favourite scene from a story). Humans are naturally creative and therefore it is important that we engage our student’s curiosity through a maker approach to education.

 

One observation that I had about the video in terms of how a maker/constructionist approach to education can better prepare students for the real world is when Adam Savage mentioned that a maker approach allows students to learn that failure is an inevitable part of life. He compares students who are not allowed to fail to children who live in sanitized environments and develop allergies because their immune system has never experienced illness before. This is a great comparison because failure is a part of life. Students need to be taught that if you fail, you need to pick yourself and try again until you succeed. By adopting a maker approach, students learn resiliency and how to deal with failure. Looking at the 21^stcentury skills and competencies, under the Learning to Learn/Self-Aware and Self-Directed Learning category, there is the competency of “persevere and overcomes challenges to reach a goal.” By learning how to deal with failure, students learn how to persevere until a problem is solved.