Crafting The Maker Mindset

So what exactly is all this talk of maker movement and teaching creativity? Is it all that it’s cracked up to be? How exactly do you teach learning through making things that you don’t exactly have a planned outcome or an outlined finished product? How do you know that you are teaching the standards and covering the required curriculum correctly? These are all valid questions that I ask myself as I am crafting my daily lessons.

The key is to remember that the finished product is not always the goal but the route in which the students take to get there is where the true learning takes place. Often that is the golden brainchild that is overlooked, and as a teacher that is what we need to focus on. In our rush and rush world we feel the need to focus on what was produced, but the true learning lies in the path the students take to get there and in the self reflection afterward. The creativity, the thinking, the real problem solving that the students used to get to their end result is the true “finished product.”

In my classroom, I have a STEM table that is open and ready for use whenever the students have a free moment. The rules are simple: everyone works on the same project, we all have a common goal, the table doesn’t have to get cleaned up when it’s time to leave, and the end product gets tested, modified, and tested again. The students are constantly visiting the STEM table throughout the day and it has an influx of students throughout the day so that everyone gets a chance at the table. They all build and add on to each other’s ideas. No one has an “it’s mine” mentality. This not only creates a classroom culture of unity, but also one of working together towards a common goal and group problem solving. What is really fun to watch is to see them delegate responsibility to each other especially on a rainy recess day! Currently we are studying the 5 senses so their task is simple, use the giant box of Lego’s to build a neuron that is as big as the table. It must have all the parts of a neuron and bonus points if it has moving parts like a real neuron.

I give them about 1-2 weeks to create this project and then afterwards we discuss what they did as a whole group. We talk about what was easy and what was hard about it. I will write down their thoughts on the board or chart paper. One of the most important areas I like to talk about is where they had problems, got stuck or frustrated. What did you do? What resources did you use to get “unstuck”? Talking about their learning gets them to really process what they did and the way they put their ideas together.

That’s one way to do design thinking as a whole class group project. Another way is to give each child their own project and let them brainstorm their own idea, create a prototype, test it, make modifications, and test it again. The key with giving out individual projects is setting a time limit so that everyone stays on the same schedule. So if you allow 90 minutes everyone gets 90 minutes, or 2 days etc. The key is that before they can move on to the next phase they must document their learning either by writing it down, drawing it out, sharing it with a partner, or making a prototype etc. Lastly, when they have the final product you still go through the whole group debriefing process. They all share what was easy and hard and come up with common issues they all had, and then display their finished products.

Knowing about a subject and connecting it with all of a student’s 5 senses is what really cements a student’s learning, and that is the true center of the maker movement. So in the end, to answer the question, is the maker movement all it’s cracked up to be? The answer is a resounding YES! It most definitely is!

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Today, we heard from ESK Second Grade teacher Parri Thurman and her thoughts on how to incorporate the maker movement into today’s classroom on the recent article titled Capture the Learning: Crafting the Maker Mindset from Edutopia.