Service Learning Questions

[Brian Smith]

We do plenty of whimsical projects in our computing and design technology course curriculums. There's a growing interest in providing more authentic projects that engage our students in service learning beyond the typical service trips our school offers. So, I am writing to ask what others have in place in their programs that provides students with more service-based learning in their communities. I have found the of Tom Heck and am familiar with GenYES. We have a few ideas about this within our context here in Hong Kong, but I'm wondering about the following questions:

- What job descriptions might you share for a role leading or collaborating on service learning within the context of making/STEM/STEAM, etc.? 

- Are those of you doing this work in a coaching role around such work?  

- What types of community programs, organizations, or individuals are you connecting or working with?

- Are there projects that you have documented that you can share here? 

[Lucy Gray]

Hi Brian -

We have a new mission-driven space that contains maker equipment and a digital media lab. Service Learning is core to our mission, and so it's called the Live + Serve Laboratory and classes are encouraged to use this space and resources to create service-oriented projects. That said, we are fairly new to the maker movement in general.  The director of this program is Drea Gallaga and her email is dgal...@nscds.org if you want to reach out to her directly. Maybe there are some opportunities for collaboration! 

The Live and Serve Lab is part of a larger library renovation: https://www.nscds.org/about/library-renovation. Here are some additional photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2mHxFEtTdoTzbz5d8

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Lucy Gray

Director of Educational Technology

North Shore Country Day School

https://www.nscds.org/

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[Matt Zigler]

Hi Brian, earlier this year I presented at the FabLearn conference on a class that I taught for the first time last year, and that just started again this year, called Making for Social Good. The idea is for students to use empathy-based, human-centered design to design objects for direct or indirect community service in ways that can be shared digitally for fabrication at any Makerspace around the world. You can read the paper that I presented at the conference here.

To answer the questions you posted:

- I am coordinator of the Makerspace at the school. I generally teach 1-2 classes a trimester and then coordinate use of the space for teachers and students and help facilitate hands-on activities for content area classes. I describe it as being a librarian of making.

-I would describe my role as a teacher for the most part, but occasionally I work with community service groups as well in a facilitator role.

- In the class last year we worked with a school initiative to make kits to send to a local homeless shelter, and two local food pantries.

- There are projects documented in the document linked above. The most complete project was posted here: https://makershare.com/projects/laser-engraved-info-cards-homeless

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to chat about it!

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Thank you,

Matt Zigler

@BullisBITlab

BITlab Coordinator

BITlab Google Site - Profiles, Badges, Projects

Bullis School

(301) 983-5701 x 495

Currently Making:

Laser Cut X-Wing

Just Finished Making:

Halloween Glow Stick Pumpkins

[Connie Liu]

Hey Brian, take a look at Project Invent: we've got a free curriculum specifically for designing technologies for social good and plenty of examples.

https://projectinvent.org/

Hope it's helpful for your service learning x design technology integration!