“Play is children’s most serious work.” Edith Ackermann In Loving Memory and Respect The design team of EPIC Middle School dreamt big. We evoked as many education buzzwords as we could think of and are still working hard to try to make them work together: game-based learning, the hero’s journey, making/”fablabing”, engineering, design, and… Read more »
Month: December 2016
The Problem with Standards in Public K-12
I recently read ‘Measuring What Matters Most: Choice-Based Assessments for the Digital Age’ by Daniel L. Schwartz and Dylan Arena. It’s not about maker ed but its first degree cousin ‘game based learning’. One problem it touches on is the standards, which are also a significant hurdle for maker education in public K-12. The compulsory nature… Read more »
Giving as a Core Value
Whenever I go to a conference or a maker event, I bring gifts. A small topo map of Virginia for the FabLearn conference, makerspace starter kits and business card flashlights for education conferences or personalized gifts for fellow makers at Maker Faire. I’m lucky to have access to a makerspace filled with shiny tools. The… Read more »
WIP 002: Flexy Tree
Here is another Work in Progress post. Text file is filling up with ideas. I’m using iA Writer to post a draft directly into WordPress which is pretty cool. Saves a step or two though I do need to work on learning markup. Question: What DigiFab device should I take on vacation? Answer: Othermill CNC… Read more »
Making Hope Happen
When a tragic event happens in a community, the members of the community come together in an emotional connection of support and hope. When our city of San Bernardino, California experienced such an event in 2015, a tragic mass shooting, our children felt compelled to… Read more »
WIP 001: Stamp Attack
Warning: This post documents Work In Progress. If you want a polished product, this is not the post you are looking for. Learn more in WIP 000. Welcome to WIP 001 a first step in journaling my progress in all things #DigiFab #FabLearn #MakerEd #makerspace. For those interested in the details. I’m drafting the text of… Read more »
From Doughs Into Creations
8th graders who have been taking engineering classes at Kepler Tech Lab surprised me when I came prepared to give them all I had, but kids completely changed learning outcomes I was hoping for them. I still wonder why I am using the doughs in any context; they are good and helped me define how… Read more »
Pinball Activity
I teach an introductory physical programming course in curricular classes at a public school in São Paulo for middle school students who have never programmed before. In my classes, I try to propose activities suited for iteration and that provide possibilities for multiple pathways in the creation process through a tinkering approach. In this post… Read more »
Tinkering with Circuits @ CoderDojo Bologna
CoderDojo Bologna is a group of volunteers helping kids from 8 to 18 to express their creativity through digital technologies. We organize a free coding club almost twice a month on Saturday for 20-40 kids, according of the capacity of the space that hosts us ( public libraries, makerspaces, co-working, research centers..). Since 2013 we… Read more »
WIP 000: Work in Progress
Sylvia Martinez, head cat wrangler for the FabLearn Fellows, says to post more stuff. She says that it doesn’t need to be perfect, just jot it down and publish. Unfortunately, this ethos doesn’t fit with my normal workflow. A typical post on my DesignMakeTeach.com blog involves a lot of work. Steps include brainstorming a project,… Read more »