Situated in the shade of palm trees in the Miami, FL area, the REM Learning Center serves children aged 12 months to nine years. By having two dedicated Maker Corps Members during the summer, they could increase the number of visits children had to the "Play, Make, Share" studio, continue to experiment with different materials and facilitation strategies, and begin to build the expertise of their staff.
Our role as external evaluators is to provide Maker Ed and its stakeholders with an outside perspective on two questions. First: How does Maker Corps impact the MCMs and Host Sites that participate and the audiences they serve? Second: In what ways can the Maker Corps program improve to better serve these participants and their audiences? This report is an executive summary of our full report, in which we present a complete summary of the findings from surveys, interviews, and case studies during the 2014 Maker Corps program.
Maker Corps increases the capacity of youth-serving organizations nationwide to engage youth and families in making. Diverse Maker Corps Members expand the current network of makers, mentors, and community leaders poised to lead creative experiences for youth. (http://makered.org/makercorps/) In this report of Maker Corps' second year, we address the following questions: 1. How does Maker Corps impact the Maker Corps Members, participating Host Sites, and the audiences they serve? 2. In what ways can the Maker Corps program improve to better serve these participants and their audiences? We
The project will develop and study the impact of science simulations, referred to as sims, on middle school childrens' understanding of science and the scientific process. The project will investigate: 1) how characteristics of simulation design (e.g., interface design, visual representations, dynamic feedback, and the implicit scaffolding within the simulation) influence engagement and learning and how responses to these design features vary across grade-level and diverse populations; 2) how various models of instructional integration of a simulation affect how students interact with the simulation, what they learn, and their preparation for future learning; 3) how these interactions vary across grade-level and diverse populations; and 4) what critical instructional features, particularly in the type and level of scaffolding, are needed. Working with teachers, the team will select 25 existing sims for study. Teachers and students will be interviewed to test for usability, engagement, interpretation, and learning across content areas. The goal will be to identify successful design alternatives and to formulate generalized design guidelines. In parallel, pull-out and classroom-based studies will investigate a variety of use models and their impact on learning. Ten new simulations will then be developed to test these guidelines. Products will include the 35 sims with related support materials available for free from a website; new technologies to collect real-time data on student use of sims; and guidelines for the development of sims for this age population. The team will also publish research on how students learn from sims.
DATE:
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Katherine PerkinsDaniel SchwartzMichael DubsonNoah Podolefsky
Based on work in media studies, new literacy studies, applied linguistics, the arts and empirical research on the experiences of urban youths’ informal media arts practices we articulate a new vision for media education in the digital age that encompasses new genres, convergence, media mixes, and participation. We first outline the history of how students’ creative production has been used to meet the goals of media educators and highlight new trends in media education that are instructive for creative production. Our goal is to introduce and situate the new ways in which youth are
In this paper we articulate an alternative approach to look at video games and learning to become a creator and contributor in the digital culture. Previous discussions have focused mostly on playing games and learning. Here, we discuss game making approaches and their benefits for illuminating game preferences and learning both software design and other academic content. We report on an ongoing ethnographic study that documents youth producing video games in a community design studio. We illustrate how video game making can provide a context for addressing issues of participation
This paper argues that the "kindergarten approach to learning" – characterized by a spiraling cycle of Imagine, Create, Play, Share, Reflect, and back to Imagine – is ideally suited to the needs of the 21st century, helping learners develop the creative-thinking skills that are critical to success and satisfaction in today’s society. The paper discusses strategies for designing new technologies that encourage and support kindergarten-style learning, building on the success of traditional kindergarten materials and activities, but extending to learners of all ages, helping them continue to
In today's rapidly changing world, people must continually come up with creative solutions to unexpected problems. Success is based not only on what one knows or how much one knows, but on one's ability to think and act creatively. In short, people are now living in the Creative Society. Unfortunately, few of today's classrooms focus on helping students develop as creative thinkers. In addition, the proliferation of new technologies is quickening the pace of change, accentuating the need for creative thinking in all aspects of people's lives. In this article, the author discusses two