Meet the Makers: Can a DIY movement revolutionize how we learn?
By H Samtani
Glossary Terms
Meatspace - noun. a term, originating from cyberpunk fiction and culture, referring to the real (that is, not virtual) world, the world of flesh and blood. The opposite of cyberspace. Deriving from cyberpunk novels, meatspace is the world outside of the 'net-- that is to say, the real world, where you do things with your body rather than with your keyboard.
Meatspace. (2005). Urban Dictionary. Retrieved November 27, 2013 from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=meatspace
Macher - a person who gets things done
"macher".(n.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved November 27, 2013 from
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/macher
Maker Education – aims to empower young people to become master tinkers with a key focus of integrating maker spaces into existing educational programs” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
“objects-to-think-with” – term coined by MIT mathematician Seymour Papert that helps to illustrate how both digital and physical objects such as robots, games, and programs can “become objects of the mind that help to construct, examine, and revise connections between old and new knowledge.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 32)
Quotes
“The maker movement…encourages collaboration, invention, and radical participation with a single goal: to create new things.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 28)
I like the term ‘radical participation’ because I felt as though this was something new and likely to generate interest from youth. However, I do see the irony in that much of textile and foods classes have always been participation based, but then they were structure and students were told what they were going to make verses having the freedom to develop and build whatever their imagination can think of.
“The White House’s embrace of the maker movement is hard-wired into President Barack Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
There is a strong connection between what is call the maker culture/movement and that of the STEM movement. Maker culture is a direct link because makers develop and use the varying educational knowledge from STEM knowledge systems to create and build their inventions.
“…encourage young people to create and build and invent – to be makers of things, not just consumers of things.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
This is a time when we are able to teach children to reuse and recycle items that they thought no longer had life left in them. It gives them the opportunity to repurpose them and stops them from ending up in a landfill. Learning to maximize everything will be better or the planet.
“Cory Doctorow…see librarians and makers as natural allies and think of libraries as a natural setting for creating a maker space.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
I had never thought of this before but the link is obvious and with so much of the library systems going digital there will likely be vacant space in these building to accommodate a maker space set up.
“maker activity can create a force multiplier effect when it fosters cross-pollination between schools.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 30)
Having a more communal or shared space offers students greater opportunity to share information and learn from other youth that they may not have been able to meet in their own school spaces.
“At Independence High School in San Francisco – which Thomas describes as “kind of like your last speed bump before you drop out” – students have to be in school only 45 minutes per week. When students worked maker projects, however, they stayed voluntarily, sometimes several hours a day.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 30)
I wanted this quote included because it shows how giving students the freedom to take charge of their own learning can change the outlook on education by even the most challenging students.
Parker Thomas believed that making gives children the mindset to do anything they want and says, “You’re not held hostage to what you can find. If you can dream it, you can make it, and you can shape the world around you.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 30)
I found his words to be inspirational, allowing students the opportunity to let their imagination take them where they want to go, children have so much imagination and we should never dampen it.
“Scholars, including the University of Indiana’s Kylie Peppler and the University of California’s Mimi Ito, have written several papers on topics such as learning about circuitry through e-textiles” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 32)
The above quote was put in to help me to remember to further look up papers written by these authors.
“The money…would help to bridge the void left by the disappearance of traditional maker activities – home economics, shop, chemistry labs – from the traditional school curriculum.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 32)
My question is why, with this popular movement are these traditional maker activities not being revitalized. Is it merely a course structuring problem and they need to be revisited to alter the way they are taught to the students? Can they be salvaged?
Summary of the Article
This article looks at the implementation of ‘maker spaces’ that are being incorporated into schools and libraries. The development of these spaces has garnered a great deal of enthusiasm from students and teachers alike; however, we need to be wary various challenges that are face by their integration; things like teacher knowledge, funding, and student safety. The article promotes a positive portrait of the movement and the goal of its ability to alter the face of education.
References
Samtani, H. (2013). Meet the makers. School Library Journal, 59(6), 28-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/1355957879?accountid=14656
Meatspace - noun. a term, originating from cyberpunk fiction and culture, referring to the real (that is, not virtual) world, the world of flesh and blood. The opposite of cyberspace. Deriving from cyberpunk novels, meatspace is the world outside of the 'net-- that is to say, the real world, where you do things with your body rather than with your keyboard.
Meatspace. (2005). Urban Dictionary. Retrieved November 27, 2013 from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=meatspace
Macher - a person who gets things done
"macher".(n.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved November 27, 2013 from
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/macher
Maker Education – aims to empower young people to become master tinkers with a key focus of integrating maker spaces into existing educational programs” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
“objects-to-think-with” – term coined by MIT mathematician Seymour Papert that helps to illustrate how both digital and physical objects such as robots, games, and programs can “become objects of the mind that help to construct, examine, and revise connections between old and new knowledge.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 32)
Quotes
“The maker movement…encourages collaboration, invention, and radical participation with a single goal: to create new things.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 28)
I like the term ‘radical participation’ because I felt as though this was something new and likely to generate interest from youth. However, I do see the irony in that much of textile and foods classes have always been participation based, but then they were structure and students were told what they were going to make verses having the freedom to develop and build whatever their imagination can think of.
“The White House’s embrace of the maker movement is hard-wired into President Barack Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
There is a strong connection between what is call the maker culture/movement and that of the STEM movement. Maker culture is a direct link because makers develop and use the varying educational knowledge from STEM knowledge systems to create and build their inventions.
“…encourage young people to create and build and invent – to be makers of things, not just consumers of things.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
This is a time when we are able to teach children to reuse and recycle items that they thought no longer had life left in them. It gives them the opportunity to repurpose them and stops them from ending up in a landfill. Learning to maximize everything will be better or the planet.
“Cory Doctorow…see librarians and makers as natural allies and think of libraries as a natural setting for creating a maker space.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 29)
I had never thought of this before but the link is obvious and with so much of the library systems going digital there will likely be vacant space in these building to accommodate a maker space set up.
“maker activity can create a force multiplier effect when it fosters cross-pollination between schools.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 30)
Having a more communal or shared space offers students greater opportunity to share information and learn from other youth that they may not have been able to meet in their own school spaces.
“At Independence High School in San Francisco – which Thomas describes as “kind of like your last speed bump before you drop out” – students have to be in school only 45 minutes per week. When students worked maker projects, however, they stayed voluntarily, sometimes several hours a day.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 30)
I wanted this quote included because it shows how giving students the freedom to take charge of their own learning can change the outlook on education by even the most challenging students.
Parker Thomas believed that making gives children the mindset to do anything they want and says, “You’re not held hostage to what you can find. If you can dream it, you can make it, and you can shape the world around you.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 30)
I found his words to be inspirational, allowing students the opportunity to let their imagination take them where they want to go, children have so much imagination and we should never dampen it.
“Scholars, including the University of Indiana’s Kylie Peppler and the University of California’s Mimi Ito, have written several papers on topics such as learning about circuitry through e-textiles” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 32)
The above quote was put in to help me to remember to further look up papers written by these authors.
“The money…would help to bridge the void left by the disappearance of traditional maker activities – home economics, shop, chemistry labs – from the traditional school curriculum.” (Samtani, 2013, pg. 32)
My question is why, with this popular movement are these traditional maker activities not being revitalized. Is it merely a course structuring problem and they need to be revisited to alter the way they are taught to the students? Can they be salvaged?
Summary of the Article
This article looks at the implementation of ‘maker spaces’ that are being incorporated into schools and libraries. The development of these spaces has garnered a great deal of enthusiasm from students and teachers alike; however, we need to be wary various challenges that are face by their integration; things like teacher knowledge, funding, and student safety. The article promotes a positive portrait of the movement and the goal of its ability to alter the face of education.
References
Samtani, H. (2013). Meet the makers. School Library Journal, 59(6), 28-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/1355957879?accountid=14656