Maker Education
Every student is a learner and a creator. Traditional classrooms might be structured in a way where students are expected to absorb or memorize information, but Maker education challenges students to take what they know and are curious about to design and create artifacts. Not only do students get to participate in engaging hands-on projects, but they also get to grow in curiosity, resilience, and confidence.
Throughout my time in the UTeach Maker program, I've had many invaluable experiences Making with K-12 students. Most of these opportunities have come from my two years interning at the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders Makerspace.
ARS Makerspace
At Ann Richards, each student takes a STEM class as one of their five core classes throughout middle school. Once students reach the high school level, they take classes that are specialized to their pathway. These pathways are engineering, biomedical sciences, and media technology. Because of my interest in middle school and the nature of the middle school STEM courses, I was able to have hands-on (or screen-on) involvement in many of their units and projects.
At the beginning of every school year, the 6th grade STEM class has an Animal Enrichment unit. In this unit, students work collaboratively to design and build an appropriate enrichment device for an assigned animal at the Austin Zoo. The ultimate goal of this unit is to introduce students to power tools, interdisciplinary projects, and productive collaboration. I had pretty much just begun my internship at Ann Richards when 6th grade started this unit, and I had absolutely no experience with power tools prior to my internship. Because of this, I had the unique opportunity to learn how to use these tools for myself, and then teach 6th graders how to use them even the same day.
In the spring semester, I got to help the 6th grade STEM classes with their Green Building project. With this project, each class was assigned a specific region and was tasked with designing and building a prototype of an energy-efficient, eco-friendly middle school. Each class was broken into smaller groups, and these individual groups were responsible for designing certain parts of the building, such as the gym, the classrooms, the library, the auditorium, etc. Another group in each class was also responsible for communicating with the different groups and ensuring that the individual parts of the project were cohesive when put together. When I helped with this project, I got to see more of the design process than I had before. Students were required to think about the ecosystem and culture of their location, as well as building materials, cost, and square footage.
Then, COVID-19 hit and the green building project was no more. So instead, we began the green tiny house project. I was asked to make a model floor plan of my tiny home, showing my indoor and outdoor plan, complete with landscaping details. I also made a 3D model of my tiny home using materials I had around the house. Then, I made videos for the 6th graders explaining my floor plans, what I thought about in the design process, and how I built my model.
Maker Lesson
With the challenges of remote learning during COVID-19, designing and implementing Maker lessons has understandably looked different. While it’s been difficult to teach lessons where students make a physical product, creating digital products can still be a challenging and worthwhile experience.
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Click here to read more about my remote design thinking and embedded systems lesson.
Equity, Access, and Diversity
The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders serves a student body population that is 60% Hispanic, 42% socioeconomically disadvantaged, and 100% female-identifying, non-binary, or transgender. ARS is a unique school that has a fantastic Makerspace and a STEM-driven curriculum, providing access to Making to students who may not have access otherwise at their originally zoned schools. Ann Richards is dedicated to pursuing equity, diversity, and access for young women going into college and STEM fields, especially those from marginalized backgrounds.
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Though students have access to nearly any Maker resource imaginable while at school, the COVID-19 pandemic has shed a light on the reality that many students do not have even basic school supplies at home, let alone materials for Making. Though circumstances have changed and ARS has had to adapt, the teachers have still been able to include all students by being creative and flexible with their lessons.
Resources for the Classroom
Desmos: Now has the option to export a graph as an SVG file
Gravit: A free software similar to Adobe Illustrator
Google Drawing: Easily create diagrams, option to export as SVG
TinkerCAD: Now has an option for building circuits virtually
MakerEd: Lots of resources for getting started with Making in the classroom
Agency by Design: Helpful exercises and framework for design thinking and equity in Making
Making & Learning with Students
See below for photos of my experiences Making and learning with students.
