Maker Education: Learning by Doing

Piaget once said, “Knowledge is a consequence of experience.” The constructivist movement, and more recently, project-based learning initiatives, have long proposed the need of an active, engaging learning environment for students. The difference in “Maker” classrooms is that students aren’t just using apps - they’re creating them. 

Maker education is more than just legos and building things. Sylvia Martinez, co-author of Invent to Learn, believes that mathematician, Seymour Papert, could be considered one of the “founders” of the Maker movement. According to Martinez, “Papert's constructionism takes Piagetian constructivist theory a step further toward action. Although the learning happens inside the learner's head, it happens most reliably when the learner is engaged in a personally meaningful activity that makes the learning real and shareable. This shareable construction may take the form of a robot, musical composition, paper-mache volcano, poem, conversation, or new hypothesis.” Creating from knowledge, the heart of the Maker movement, truly makes learning meaningful.

Maker education is not something that’s happening just in schools and classrooms. More and more hands-on learning centers and technology discovery centers are popping up in museums, art studios, and libraries. These hands-on centers, known as “makerspaces”, are taking these community resource locations into the 21st century.

Edutopia’s article, How the Maker Movement Is Moving Into Classrooms, provides an excellent resource of terminology and trends to help educators understand the Maker movement. I would encourage educators to check out this thorough resource for more information.

Your Pepper professional development Courses and Resource Library can help you transition to a more engaged and active classroom. We’re adding new courses and resources regularly, so be sure to check them out.

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Tomorrowland and 21st Century Learning: Classroom of the Future?

Over the weekend my family watched the recent movie, Tomorrowland. The message of the movie is one of dreams and hope for the future. It implies that our future is in the hands of the children of today. We must encourage our students to have a desire for a better tomorrow. 21st Century Skills are all about preparing our students for success in the future. The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) was founded in 2002 as a coalition of business, education, and government policymakers to stress the importance of 21st Century Skills for all students. P21’s mission is to serve as catalyst for 21st century learning to build collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders so that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a world where change is constant and learning never stops. The goal is for 21st century skills to be infused into our curriculum. Alvin Toffler once said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” P21 has developed the graphic below to illustrate their framework for 21st Century Learning.

According to the P21 website, “The elements described below are the critical systems necessary to ensure 21st century readiness for every student. 21st century standards, assessments, curriculum, instruction, professional development and learning environments must be aligned to produce 21st century outcomes for today’s students.” These elements include:

• Content Knowledge and 21st Century Themes
• Learning and Innovation Skills
• Information, Media, and Technology Skills
• Life and Career Skills

Tom Whitby’s article, The Longer View: Edtech and 21st-Century Education, highlights the importance of moving our 20th Century teaching methods into the 21st Century - which includes using technology as a tool in the classroom. Whitby states, “We don't need to repurpose today's tools to make them fit a 20th century education model. We need to develop new methodology to meet the needs of 21st century learners. To change the system, we first need to change the culture.”

Whitby continues by saying that being connected as an educator can have a positive impact on our teaching. Pepper utilizes technology to help teachers collaborate with other education professionals and provide opportunity for teachers to remain on top of ever-changing educational trends and ideas. As you participate in Pepper courses, be sure to take advantage of your Pepper People Network.

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