MindShift

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images As tech tools continue to proliferate with new launches and new products, it’s difficult to predict what will stick and what won’t. A recently released report by the New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) tries to sift through the fads and find the few that will have a real impact … Continue reading →

Courtesy: Exploratorium In step with the popularity and growing momentum of Maker Faire, the “maker movement” is going global with the help of the Exploratorium museum’s Global Studios. After 40 plus years of work in this field, the Exploratorium, which is based in San Francisco, is stepping up its involvement in hands-on, informal science and … Continue reading →

By Katrina Schwartz Most teachers are happy doing their job — helping kids understand and make sense of the world around them. But there’s a growing number of educators who are wading into entrepreneurship, frustrated at the lack of tools they need, and wanting to extend their sphere of influence. As technology becomes more widely … Continue reading →

At a recent conference, professor Kristin Fontichiaro described watching a seven-year-old work his way through do-it-yourself resources online. Because he was comparing  concrete items (e.g., his circuit versus that in the tutorial), and not abstract concepts, the student immediately understood what was a credible resource and what was not. Although the task was about building … Continue reading →

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrRNwLJHxhQ MythBusters host Adam Savage has a thing or two to say about the importance of tinkering — even if that means it gets messy. “If you don’t get a chance to fail, if you don’t get a chance to try things and not get them right the first time, and you keep on doing … Continue reading →

“There’s real value in doing these ‘making’ projects in a social setting like a school,” says Dale Dougherty, founder of Maker Faire, to be held in the Bay Area on May 19-20. “It connects you to other people. You build up a social reputation as a maker. You’re building and learning from one another, learning … Continue reading →