I am thrilled to be bringing a day of making, tinkering, engineering, and personal expression to Perth, Western Australia this June.

Best of all, the workshop is a partnership with the State Teachers’ Union of Western Australia (I’m a huge fan of organized labor) and the learning adventure is being held at the Remida WA Creative Reuse Center! Remida WA is an Australian version of the amazing Remida facility in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Our workshop participants will have access to all of the found, reused, and recycled treasures collected by Remida WA. These materials will be brought to life with the tools and digital materials of the maker movement in a context I call Digital Reggio.

I can’t wait to see what we invent together!

See you in Perth,

Invent To Learn Workshop

Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom with a Reggio Emilia Twist
With Gary Stager, Ph.D. 

11 June 2014
9:00 – 3:00 PM

Remeda WA
1 Prospect Place
West Perth, WA

$250, including supplies and lunch
Enrollment is extremely limited!
Click here to register today

Join colleagues for a day of hard fun and problem solving — where computing meets tinkering and design. The workshop begins with the case for project-based learning, making, tinkering, and engineering. Next, we will discuss strategies for effective prompt setting. You will view examples of children engaged in complex problem solving with new game-changing technologies and identify lessons for your own classroom practice. Powerful ideas from the Reggio Emilia Approach, breakthroughs in science education, and the global maker movement combine to create rich learning experiences.

Participants will have the chance to tinker with a range of exciting new low- and high-tech construction materials that can really amplify the potential of your students.

You will learn

• How new tools and technology can reinvigorate Project-Based Learning
• Best classroom practices for integrating maker technology
• How to plan engaging projects based on the TMI design model
• How to choose the technologies with the maximum learning impact
• How to make the case for making, tinkering, and engineering
• How to incorporate found, recycled, and reclaimed materials in project development
• The big ideas behind the Reggio Emilia Approach and bringing “Digital Reggio” to life in classrooms

Fabrication with cardboard and found materials, squishy electronic circuits, wearable computing, Arduino micro controllers, Humingbird robotics, LittleBits, and computer programming are all on the menu.

Bring a laptop and your imagination. We’ll supply the rest (craft materials, art supplies, construction elements). Invention is the mother of learning!

This workshop is suitable for all grades and subject areas.

About the presenter

Invent to Learn is a day-long workshop led by Dr. Gary Stager, author of the new book, Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. Gary Stager is an internationally known champion for student-centered authentic technology use, an entertaining speaker, and the world’s foremost authority on teaching children of all ages to program. A certified preschool and primary teacher, Gary has worked across Australia since 1990 when he led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools. Dr. Stager worked closely with Seymour Papert for more than two decades and his doctoral research at The University of Melbourne was based on work with Dr. Papert in creating a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated teen at-risk learners. That work was heavily influenced by the Reggio Emilia Approach, which he has studied for decades. Gary was the new media producer for The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project – Simpatíco, 2007 Grammy Award Winner for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Dr. Stager is also a contributor to The Huffington Post and a Senior S.T.E.M. and Education Consultant to leading school architecture firm, Fielding Nair International. Gary also works with teachers and students as S.T.E.M. Director at The Oaks School in Hollywood, California.

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