Untitled. Design Thinking - Makerspace for Education. You Don’t Need a Makerspace to Be a Maker – A.J. Juliani – Medium. When I was in 3rd grade my best friend Mark and I built a treehouse out of wood scraps we found in the forest behind his house. We were makers. In 5th grade, our group of friends created a new sport with a Nerf football and a hula hoop at recess. Soon the entire grade was playing the sport having a blast. We were makers. In 9th grade, our band “The 25th Hour” recorded our first EP.
In 11th grade, I took a programming class. When I first got my Macbook and Garageband came out I spent hours and weeks creating beats, mixing and matching songs together to play for friends. A few years ago during a snowstorm, all my siblings were stuck in our house. Making Can Happen Anywhere at Anytime In each one of these stories, I was exploring what I could design, build, and make. I love the concept of makerspaces. But I hope the message we are giving to our students is not one that they need a maker space in order to be a maker. We Are All Makers Do you believe this about yourself?
The LAUNCH Cycle: A Design Thinking Framework for K-12 Students - A.J. JULIANI. Design thinking is a flexible framework for getting the most out of the creative process. It is used in the arts, in engineering, in the corporate world, and in social and civic spaces. You can use it in every subject with every age group. It works when creating digital content or when building things with duct tape and cardboard. Although there are many models for design thinking, we have developed the student-friendly LAUNCH Cycle. Here’s how it works. In the first phase, students look, listen, and learn. Sparked by curiosity, students move to the second phase, where they ask tons of questions.
This leads to understanding the process or problem through an authentic research experience. Students apply that newly acquired knowledge to potential solutions. In this next phase, they create a prototype. Next, they begin to highlight what’s working and fix what’s failing. Then, when it’s done, it’s ready to launch. Get the Innovative Teaching Toolbox Awesome! 60+ Makerspace Ideas for Maker Education | Maker space. FREE PDF – 100+ Makerspace Materials and Supplies Below is a growing collection of our favorite tweets that focus on makerspace ideas. These ideas range from how to get started to what maker project to do in your makerspace.
Whenever we put something online or on Twitter, we want it to be actionable for the makerspace operator. We know you’re busy and we want to help simplify the process of starting and running a makerspace. Hopefully these ideas help! Transform Your Classroom into a Makerspace. As finals approached this year, I had a desire to do something different. In the past I’ve had students write a timed five-paragraph argument essay about whether Montag, from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, is a conformist or nonconformist. My students had already written four essays this year, so I decided to ditch the essay. Instead, I had them select a metaphor from the novel and asked them to bring it to life creating a 3D visual metaphor. I was not prepared for the level of enthusiasm, excitement, and creativity that was generated by this assignment. When I introduced the final exam, I told my students I wanted to be BLOWN AWAY.
My students entered the class eager to begin their work. They were so focused and on task. Now that finals are over, I am more convinced than ever that teachers need to embrace unconventional forms of assessment. Teachers need to take time to transform their classrooms into makerspaces where kids are encouraged to create, invent and learn.