At the beginning of this year, I was presented with an unexpected challenge. I would be co-teaching and developing the curriculum for a maker class for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP). This class includes many students diagnosed with learning disabilities who struggle in public school. Speaking generally, many of these students are frustrated and… Read more »
Category: Cohort 2 Fellows
Primary MakerEd Unit Samples
Finding unit ideas in Maker Education for primary grades (ages 5-8) can be challenging. I often find myself coming across one exciting idea for a very specific lesson or project, but I have to find creative ways to better integrate it into a larger unit. I have started creating sample unit posters in hopes of… Read more »
Making Maker ED Universal Means Reaching Those that Have NOT Drank the Kool-Aid
When thinking about Maker Education, you might imagine scenes of highly engaged and independent learners, tinkering, wondering, and creating collaboratively. It might even be in a well-curated design learning space with prototyping buckets, bright colors, inspirational quotes, and an annex of digital fabrication tools (3D printers, laser cutters, LED-lined computers). Also present, a learning facilitator… Read more »
Laser cutter prototyping car at Defkoakniep FabLab
This two past months, I have been working with Karimou, a Senegalese engineer. Karimou decided to work on a remote controlled cars and plans to manufacture them in Senegal. With DefkoAkNiep Lab team, we helped Karimou build his first prototype with the laser cutter. The car’s component (see video) is a mix of wooden crafts and… Read more »
Papert’s 8 Big ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Lab- Translated into French
“Les 8 principes du Laboratoire constructionniste d’apprentissage. Par le Dr. Seymour Papert (1999)” Original English version here Le premier principe est l’apprentissage par la pratique. On apprend tous mieux quand l’apprentissage entre dans le cadre d’une activité qu’on trouve vraiment intéressante. On apprend le mieux quand on met en pratique ce que l’on a… Read more »
Thoughts on Failure
“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.” John Dewey This blog post is based on my November 10th 2016 Ignite talk for Fair Chance Learning’s event in Niagara Falls with Brian Aspinall, during the Bring It Together conference. See my slide deck here…. Read more »
Around the World with the 8 Big Ideas of the Constructionist Learning Lab
The FabLearn Fellows have started to create translations of the Eight Big Ideas Behind the Constructionist Learning Laboratory by Seymour Papert into various languages. In 1999, Seymour Papert, the father of educational technology, embarked on his last ambitious institutional research project when he created the constructionist, technology-rich, project-based, multi-aged Constructionist Learning Laboratory inside of Maine’s troubled prison… Read more »
Papert’s 8 Big Ideas Translated into German by Students
Instead of just writing about Papert’s 8 big ideas, I thought it could be a good opportunity for my students in school to translate Papert’s ideas into their own language. A few students from my school are “residents” of the makerspace. They don’t like anything they think of as “schooley”, especially reading, writing, and English,… Read more »
Planning Felt Monsters Inspired by Ceremonial Masks
As promised, herein lies the beginning stages of my first Maker project grounded in critical pedagogy guided by the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) Ethnic Studies framework and the Critical Friends Protocol (CFP) with members of the Radical STEMM Educators of the Bay Area. Dictated by department logistics, the 6th grade class of 2016-17… Read more »
Papert’s 8 Big Ideas of the Constructionist Learning Lab Translated in Kirundi
Ivyiyumviro 8 nyamukuru vyinyegeje inyuma ya Constructionist Learning Lab Iciyumviro cambere nyamukuru ni kwigira mubikorwa. Kenshi na kenshi twiga neza mugihe twiga ivyo twumva dukunze. Kukaba nkako, twiga neza cane mugihe turiko dukoresha ivyo twize mugukora ikintu dushaka kugerako. Ikindi ciyumviro cakabiri nuko ubuhinga nk’igikoresho co kwubaka. Mugihe tuzi ko ubuhinga bukoreshwa mugukora ibintu, bisigura… Read more »