PD for the "Why"?

[Michael Fricano II]

Hi, everyone!

In thinking about who we help teachers understand the importance of MakerEd in the classroom, what PD is available that can help us understand the "why"?

There are some great PD opportunities like CMK and Design, Do, Discover that allow educators the time to explore and experiment. But what about the theory, pedagogy, study, and reasoning for MakerEd?

Will there be any great PD opportunities in the near future that hit this topic? Also, are there any great resources, articles, etc. that can also help with this?

[Christa Flores]

Hi Michael, 

Great question. You have to address mindsets with teachers before talking technology at them or its not sustainable. I think PD starts with reading, but I am a nerd. Try just the introduction of Invent to Learn or any of a dozen articles now published on the whys. Here are a few; 

Jackie Gerstein's blog collection for $4 on Amazon

 http://www.amazon.com/Educator-as-Maker-ebook/dp/B016Z5NZ6O/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445955373&sr=1-2&keywords=Maker+Education

Edutopia's Maker Education Collection: 

http://www.edutopia.org/topic/maker-education

Or this video on the why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MDOB5-ocQc

The White Paper by Agency by Design 

http://www.agencybydesign.org/news/agency-by-design-releases-white-paper-of-emergent-findings/

And now Maker Education Initiative has a great video out to share at meetings: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt1rjyKzX-E

Hope that helps! 

-Christa 

[Mark Loundy]

Making in K-12 is still pretty new. I'm hoping to see more and larger studies supporting its efficacy. (Hello, PhD candidates?.) For now, we're working on an educated gut feeling, a few books and the confidence that nobody can prove that it doesn't work.

Buck Institute offers some great project-based learning PD, but it is not maker-centered.

Mark Loundy

Instructional Technology Specialist

De Vargas Elementary School

Cupertino (Calif.) Union School District

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 3:37:21 PM UTC-7, Michael Fricano II wrote:

[Joe Donahue]

You might also take a look at Ken Robinson's TED talks on how schools stifle creativity. He also has some good books on how education needs to change and a big part of that can be addressed in a Makerspace.

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 3:37:21 PM UTC-7, Michael Fricano II wrote:

[Vinnie Vrotny]

We are not working on a feeling, but are returning to the past in many ways. I am starting a series about why we made the changes we did to our computer lab, to our curriculum, and to our the available tools.

We focus on the societal changes and the needs of the students who are coming into the lab. They have different home experiences than those 10-15 years ago.

Here is a link to what we start off with - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Al2KUYWD2kRP4hS0aTCQzl7jEIPmjR1-3eG9l5-I2Gk/edit?usp=sharing

------------------------------
Vinnie Vrotny
Director of  Technology, Kinkaid School
Blog - Multi-Faceted Refractions  (vvrotny.org)
Twitter, Skype, etc. - vvrotny

847-921-0023


"The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge" ~ Seymour Papert

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth" ~Roberto Clemente

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[Diego Fonstad]

I made a framework for discussing this with faculty and parents a few years back that some people have found useful.  

Here's the link to the blog post where the framework is posted.http://widgetfactory.org/unified-approach-to-hands-on-teaching/

There's also a link to some rubrics but we have since expanded upon those rubrics at Castilleja by creating 5 categories instead of 3:

1. Mindset

2. Problem Solving

3. Applied Math and Science

4. Computational Thinking

5. Building

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[Sylvia]

Super interesting conversation and question. And like most interesting questions, there is no one right answer. :-)

I think it depends a lot on the context you find yourself in. It's not going to help to tell teachers the "why" (as you, or some expert, sees it) if there is no opportunity for teachers, both alone and together to work out what it means to them personally and to the community.

It also means that if you believe in the theory of constructivism, each person is going to construct that meaning based on their existing experiences and through their new experiences. And if you are a Papert fan, you will want those learners (the teachers) to DO something that cements that new meaning/learning in place. And hopefully that "do" extends beyond an hour playing with a fun techie-tool, it will extend to actually trying new things in their classrooms and then iterating on that experience to continue to change their practice.

The reason we wrote Invent To Learn was to present the "facts" as we saw them to make the case for making as a valuable learning experience, by building bridges that people could explore. If you don't like history, how about some learning theory - if you don't like that, how about some classroom practice, if that doesn't ring your bell, maybe you want to hear about new cool gee-whiz techie stuff, etc. I hear from people all the time how this chapter or that chapter spoke to them and the rest was a boring waste of time and we should dump it in the next version. (And of course, it's all completely different!)

I like books (like Christa, I'm a nerd) - but any one approach only goes so far.

To me, you have to do a real analysis of where you are, the support you have from admin, and the time you have to devote to this. You have to be VERY careful that you don't assume that taking everyone along on a re-creation of your maker-ed journey is going to light someone else's fire. And in fact, for early adopters, it very typical that the zeal for bleeding edge stuff will be a huge turnoff for the rest of your colleagues.

That said, I think it's more important to try a lot of things rather than wait to figure out the one perfect answer. To quote some smart people, "to question is the answer" - "don't let great be the enemy of the good" - "it's the journey, not the destination" & "just do it"

Also, I find that, as Vinnie said, it's not all new, there are a lot of good resources and research. I don't love-love the Buck PBL resources - not that they are bad, more that I think they reinforce teacher-y habits that work against moving towards constructionist learning. In contrast, I found a lot to love in the "Project Approach" which sounds similar, but to me really supports PBL, not just long assignments. Some of this appears in chapter 4 in Invent To Learn - some had to be cut for space and focus (but I'm saving for some future book, hopefully). 

Project Approach website - some great free resources here: http://projectapproach.org The free Study Guide is great. The explanation of why KWL is NOT good for projects is a masterclass in a nutshell. People think it's just for early years, but there are resources for K-12 on the site.

Two books about The Project Approach: (buy them used! super cheap!)

Engaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach – By Lillian Katz and Sylvia Chard
Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years – By Judy Harris Helm and Lillian G. Katz

Also, when you talk about how to teach this way, Making Learning Whole (David Perkins) made a LOT of sense to me. (See this and other resources about teaching). It's no coincidence that David Perkins is associated with the Agency by Design group at Project Zero. Their resources are great as well. If you haven't looked at their website lately, take another look, it's been redesigned and it's much cleaner and easier to find things.

Sylvia Martinez

co-author, Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom http://inventtolearn.com

http://sylviamartinez.com

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 3:37:21 PM UTC-7, Michael Fricano II wrote:

[Mark Loundy]

I've seen lots of discussion, descriptive books and there are plenty of impressive people and organizations, but we simply haven't enough processed data to point at and say, "See, it works." That's what I mean when I say "educated gut feeling." That's what the bleeding edge is all about: Moving forward with enough conviction and for a long enough time to create a track record.

Mark Loundy

Instructional Technology Specialist

De Vargas Elementary School

Cupertino (Calif.) Union School District

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 3:37:21 PM UTC-7, Michael Fricano II wrote:

[Christa Flores]

I am also a data mining nerd and think if we started a new Twitter # like #whymakered, or something similar, we could compile a fun set of evidence in images, quotes and other stuff. 

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 3:37:21 PM UTC-7, Michael Fricano II wrote:

[Michael Fricano II]

That's a cool idea, Christa! I'll join you on the project!

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[Colin Angevine]

Two things that I wrote recently that might be worth adding to the conversation:

Why and how, not just what (a dip-your-toes-in primer I wrote for Autodesk's Project Ignite blog)

Situating makerspaces in schools (a more provocative, in-depth essay my colleague, Josh Weisgrau, and I wrote for Hybrid Pedagogy)

Here's hoping something there might be useful for you!

Colin

[Matthew Dillon]

Great conversation guys. Colin...I had the pleasure of meeting Josh at FabLearn when he presented on makerspaces in schools...love the articles...picked up a few more ideas to try here. I am doing 3 PD's tomorrow at one of the public school "complexes", one on setting up makerspaces. You can be sure I will be touching on the "whys". If we can get teachers and admins to buy into the "Why", then making (whether part of a classroom or a stand alone space) will keep benefiting students...and administrators won't be able to not support it.

Matthew

[Mark Barnett]

This thread is a goldmine!

I was really impressed with the latest MIT and Lego video that came out and how it goes into the history of constructionism with Papert. Speaking of that, I think that learning about Papert's work is a good place to start when asking "Why"

https://vimeo.com/143620419

I am going to spend some time going through the links that were shared!

-Happy Halloween everyone 👻

Mark Barnett
STEM Education Expert

830-480-4978

Consultant at SASTEMIC.org

Advisor at Geekbus.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/makermark

https://about.me/mark.barnett

https://www.twitter.com/Maker_Mark

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[Christa Flores]

Cool, thanks Mark! 

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Christa Flores

Science Education/iLab for Making

Blog: theAwesomeWorldofMaking@Hillbrook @sciteach212

[Lucie deLaBruere]

Sylvia
Thank you so so much for taking the time to write such a thoughtful response. One of the things I love about your book is exactly what you mentioned, it appeals to so many different types of folks who are at different places in their journey. I have used it as a reading in several classes and the reflections are always positive and for many diverse reasons,

i like the idea of collecting quotes that connect that can be used to quickly explain the why to someone as they walk into a maker Ed activity or maker space.

It helps them make the connection with what they see happening and a deeper purpose.

A few years ago Steve Hargadons UNCONFERENCE HacK Your Account Education At ISTE had lots of t shirts with different quotes that captured the why of the event
They fragged from Dewey to Einstein

What quote would you put on a button, sticker, t shirt or vinyl cut for the wall of your space?

Lucie

[Paul Way]

I was collecting quotes to put up, but haven't made it happen yet. Here are my favorites so far:

Ready fire aim

Measure twice cut once.

Done is better than perfect

The perfect is the enemy of the good

Sometimes the only way to do something is just to do it.

If you can't fix it, duck it

I haven't failed, I just found 10,000 ways that don't work.


“Now, I’ve actually always found something to be very true, which is most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask. I’ve never found anybody who didn’t want to help me when I’ve asked them for help.” - Steve Jobs

“I’ve never found anyone who’s said no or hung up the phone when I called-I just asked. And when people ask me, I try to be as responsive, to pay that debt of gratitude back. Most people never pick up the phone and call, most people never ask. And that’s what separates, sometimes, the people that do things from the people that just dream about them. You gotta act. And you’ve gotta be willing to fail, you gotta be ready to crash and burn, with people on the phone, with starting a company, with whatever. If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far.”

http://time.com/3954244/steve-jobs-asking-help-power/

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[Jessie Arora]

Such a fantastic thread and I'm very grateful for all the inspiring resources shared here.

Mark- That video is awesome and Sylvia your thoughtful breakdown of many points raised here is great.

I've been piloting a program, Embark Labs, to help elem/middle school teachers introduce computational and design thinking in a project-based approach. I believe having diversity of projects is what gives the MakerEd movement so much power, however, it can be very challenging getting teachers to a point where they feel comfortable introducing projects that are can seem messy/chaotic. The goal of our program and PD is to empower educators to get more comfortable and embrace not being "experts" before jumping in. 

If anyone in this community wants to learn more and provide feedback on our approach, I'd be very grateful. More at EmbarkLabs.com and I'm at jes...@embarklabs.com. Cheers!

On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 3:37:21 PM UTC-7, Michael Fricano II wrote:

[Diego Fonstad]

Some quotes I like to use in this context for presentations/etc.

Importance of defining the problem

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

Source: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Empathy

If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.

Source: Henry Ford

Reframing 

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Source: Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Brainstorming

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

Source: Albert Einstein

Persistence

I have not failed.

I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Source: Thomas Edison

I also like having props around the lab to illustrate the unique learning that can come from hands-on exploration.  One incredibly simple yet powerful print is a hand tool (yes, 3d print a rock) from this web site http://africanfossils.org.  When you look at stone age tools in a book, they look like rocks... and there isn't much to think about.  When you hold one in your hand you can have a rich discussion about form, function and modern day equivalents.

I also like to have a rattleback as a prop... great little prompt around "what do you think is going on here"

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