One of the project that I am heavily invested in is the transformation/renovation of our existing computer lab space. To tell this story, I am going to break this up into several posts, as it would be too long winded to explain in one mega-post. Today, I am sharing the pedagogical background to explain why we are doing what we are doing.
Make, Hack, Build
If you look around a classroom in the lower grades, you will most likely see a flurry of activity around centers, students building and constructing structures, experimenting with materials and structures. However, as these students get older, especially in middle school and high school, this dynamic changes. These once confident students now begin to raise questions such as, “Why are we doing this?” , “Am I doing this right?”, and “Is this on the test?” This then morphs into statements like, “I am not good at this.”
Now, however, there is a new movement which has emerged. The Maker Movement. The Maker Movement challenges to become the learner we once were, a person who has a willingness to try, confidence in your ability to learn new things, often with the help of others, and a willingness to prototype, fail, reflect, and rebuild. It is:
School Projects + Embedded Technologies = Makers
We strive to create an environment where students have the opportunity to make, hack, and build. Students will have the opportunity to design, program, mine, and build. They will be able to do so in an environment which supports their passion and interests and not be required to progress lock-step through the same sets of examples and projects within their curriculum. We will provide opportunities for students to cultivate a maker mindset in a variety of curricula from the humanities to STEM or STEAM.
Our desire is to unleash each student’s inner kindergartner once again.