I am sitting next to one of my 6th graders, J., as he flips though one of his favorite books. This book accompanies him to MakerSpace every day and if he is in the lab after school he typically has the book so he can refer to it. The book is a large picture book… Read more »

The MaKey MaKey is a popular microcontroller that makes it easy to use any conductive object as an interface for a computer. When you plug a MaKey MaKey into a computer, the computer thinks you plugged in an external keyboard and mouse. So triggering the sensor inputs on the MaKey MaKey just sends keystrokes or… Read more »

I once heard teaching compared to the act of launching boats.  I love the visual evoked by that metaphor. Could we think of the work we do in our makerspaces a similar process to preparing for, and ultimately taking off on a self-guided journey? Students captain the ship and teachers watch from the shore. Learning… Read more »

In response to the question of what one actually learns from 3D printing, I thought more deeply about the work we do in our school. While I know conceiving an idea and shepherding it into a tangible form is significant, it is important to be able to articulate its value within an educational setting. It’s… Read more »

Fluke in a Thai TV program, sharing about his project and first draft of “SpaceBox” project. His “SpaceBox” from 1 km above the ground and Fluke was sending off the helium balloon with his team. I recently discussed with one of my student, Thunpisith Amnuaykiatloet (Nickname Fluke). Fluke won the third prize in cube sattlelite… Read more »

Finally, this is the last part. 🙂 Teachers from thirteen schools in rural area of Thailand attended a basic fabrication workshop for the first time in 2012. (Workshop provided by team from DSIL FabLab@School, Bangkok.) Conclusion This paper has discussed the perspective of how people’s interaction in the FabLab learning environment clearly shows that we… Read more »

This is an answer to Sylvia’s blog post: http://sylviamartinez.com/getting-started-should-i-buy-arduinos-for-my-classroom/?fb_action_ids=10153108316628124&fb_action_types=news.publishes I would say from my perspective with a yes and a no (in German it is called “Jain”). It depends largely on how old the students and what is the current key content in the classroom. In classes with younger students it is certainly much better… Read more »

In the last school year, I initiated the 3D print workshop at the Montessori School in Potsdam. One of the common problems is which method can be used in the classroom to create 3D objects. In the subsequent 3d-print there are several good open source programs in which the print can be prepared. We use… Read more »

The 2014/2015 FabLearn Fellows are a diverse group of 18 educators and makers. They represent eight states and five countries, and work with a wide range of ages at schools, museums, universities and non-profits. Throughout the course of the year, they will develop curriculum and resources, as well as contribute to current research projects. Their blogs represent… Read more »

Design Thinking as Constructionist Learning, Lessons from a Spring Hard Problem In the second semester of Problem based Science, my 5th graders are introduced to their “Spring hard problem.” The spring hard problem marks the end of our patterns unit and the beginning of our study of structures and systems through the lens of making… Read more »