The Maker Movement in K-12 Education: A Guide to Emerging Research – Digital Education – Education Week

By Benjamin Herold on April 11, 2016 9:00 AM

Few trends in K-12 ed tech are as hot—or as under-researched—as “Maker” education.

The term generally refers to using a wide variety of hands-on activities (such as building, computer programming, and sewing) to support academic learning and the development of a mindset that values playfulness and experimentation, growth and iteration, and collaboration and community.

Typically, “Making” involves attempting to solve a particular problem, creating a physical or digital artifact, and sharing that product with a larger audience. Often, such work is guided by the notion that process is more important than results.
Source: The Maker Movement in K-12 Education: A Guide to Emerging Research – Digital Education – Education Week

Fab School Labs

We’re on a mission to get students excited about science, technology, engineering and mathematics – better known as STEM.

Why? Because we want today’s students to be a part of tomorrow’s solutions – using STEM to create, design and solve for the needs and demands to come that will make our lives better and easier.

But for that to be possible, students need access to the latest learning tools and technologies and unfortunately, too many of today’s technology labs and science classrooms are not making the grade.
Fab School Labs to the rescue!

After a successful inaugural year for the contest in 2015, the Northrop Grumman Foundation Fab School Labs Contest is back for a second year, making five additional grants of up to $100,000 available to public middle schools for a fabulous school lab makeover.

Source: About – Fab School Labs

Maker Commons – Penn State

Maker Commons is a university-wide initiative to enrich the teaching and learning experience through 3D printing, rapid prototyping, design thinking and direct support for students, faculty and staff. We provide an open access 3D printing service based on MakerBot technology that allows any member of the Penn State community to print on-demand.  Rapid prototyping of electronic devices is made possible in the Invention Studio with an assortment of littleBits and Legos.

Source: Maker Commons | About Us

App Makes Designing in 3-D as Easy as Using Microsoft Paint – Gravity Sketch

Gravity Sketch iOS Trailer from GravitySketch on Vimeo.

TWO YEARS AGO London startup Gravity showed off a wild concept for creating 3-D forms using augmented reality software. In the demo, a designer wearing AR glasses wielded an Arduino-connected pad and pen. As he drew on the plastic pad, his drawing appeared as a 3-D object that could be viewed and manipulated almost as though it was floating in air. The compelling concept hinted at how augmented (and virtual) reality could someday be as natural a creative tool as basic pen and paper.
Source: App Makes Designing in 3-D as Easy as Using Microsoft Paint

Build in Progress

Build in Progress is designed to help you document your project as you’re developing it. You’ll want to have a camera on hand to capture how your design progresses each step of the way.This type of process documentation can be really helpful, both for yourself to look back on and for others that are building similar projects!

Build in Progress Process Video from Tiffany Tseng on Vimeo.

Source: Documentation Tips | Build in Progress

Robomatter, Inc.

Teaching the Language of Innovation

At Robomatter, we use the motivational effects of robotics to excite students about computer science, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ROBOTS and ROBOTICS integrate math, science, engineering, and technology in ways that motivate and excite students. Our goal is to provide easy-to-use robotics educational learning resources, many created under license from and in association with Carnegie Mellon University.

Source: About Us | Robomatter, Inc.

BBC micro:bit : Want to know a bit more about BBC micro:bit?

You can use your BBC micro:bit for all sorts of cool creations, from robots to musical instruments – the possibilities are endless. The micro:bit is a handheld, fully programmable computer being given free to every Year 7 or equivalent child across the UK. It’s 70 times smaller and 18 times faster than the original BBC Micro computers used in schools in the early 1980s.

This little device has an awful lot of features, like 25 red LED lights that can flash messages. There are two programmable buttons that can flash messages. There are two programmable buttons that can be used to control games or pause and skip songs on a playlist. Your BBC micro:bit can detect motion and tell you which direction you’re heading in, and it can use a low energy Bluetooth connection to interact with other devices and the Internet – clever!

Source: BBC micro:bit : Want to know a bit more about BBC micro:bit?