“Maker movement gathers steam” in Australia
from Education HQ Australia
‘Making’ is a technology driven response to the widespread absence of ‘doing’ in many classrooms. With the help of STEM teachers and teacher librarians, hands-on learning is on the rise in secondary schools.
When I heard, “I need your help. I can’t get the elephant out of the printer”, I knew exactly what our librarian was referring to.
I first heard the term “makerspace” around four or five years ago. I will admit that, approaching my 30th year in classrooms, I found the whole concept somewhere between laughable and ridiculous. But now, I will also happily admit that I’m a convert.
For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, the Maker Movement is what we (or at least I) might call a multi-car pile up of vehicles that includes DIY, hacking, arts and crafts, engineering, coding, electronics and even hobby modelling, but these are just a few of the many ‘sub-cultures’ involved.
In an educational setting, ‘making’ is a technology driven response to the widespread absence of ‘doing’ in many classrooms. In essence, it’s what psychologist Jean Piaget and other ‘constructionists’ see as experiential learning. American educator Gary Stager, author of Invent to Learn, reminds us that we are fortunate that: “this maker movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing”.
Make sure you access Stager’s website inventtolearn.com for more information on this.