Maker Faire

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The Maker Movement Goes Global

December 3, 2012 | 8:00 AM | By

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 technology education by working with groups across the world to spread and grow the movement. In addition to participating in all the Maker Faire events, bringing mini Tinkering Studios™ where visitors can experiment with the activities freely, the museum has also been called on to teach these ideas in far-reaching spots like Saudi Arabia and Italy.

“Tinkering offers an opportunity to decide for yourself what it is you are interested in learning”

“Tinkering is not something we invented or anyone invented,” said Luigi Anzivino, scientific content developer for the Tinkering Studio in the museum. “I think it’s a fundamental way that human beings have of being in the world. There’s nothing that we’ve discovered about this. So, it belongs to everyone. All we are trying to do is reveal that and allow people to let that come to the surface.”

The group’s goal is to leave a lasting impression on the sites they visit — what they call a tinkering disposition. “A tinkering disposition is something that tells you that the world is knowable; you can find out something about the world by yourself and you don’t have to be an expert in any one Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, design thinking, Exploratorium, Maker Faire, maker movement, STEM, tinkering

Giving Kids a Chance to Make

June 6, 2012 | 2:36 PM | By

What does the do-it-yourself movement have anything to do with school? This episode of the Infinite Thinking Machine features examples of how tinkering is starting to infiltrate the educational landscape, as with schools like Brightworks in San Francisco and in Maker Spaces around the country, where anyone can design and build anything they imagine.

In this episode, ITM creators challenge teachers to create a cool infographic depicting how to spend the ultimate summer vacation. Deadline is June 8. Here’s more information.

 

FILED UNDER: Learning Methods, Brightworks, Infinite Thinking Machine, Maker Faire, Maker Space

Adam Savage: Permission to Make

May 24, 2012 | 4:25 PM | By

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 it until you do get that specific kind of success, then you become so risk-averse that you in fact get an allergy to trying new things. And that is the worst thing we can do to kids.”

At Maker Faire last weekend, Savage spoke about how the “maker culture” is the engine that will fuel kids’ love for — and excelling in — math and science.

Here’s to that maker spirit!

[Produced by Joanne Elgart Jennings and Matthew Williams. Photos in the video by Patrick Giblin.]

FILED UNDER: Culture, Adam Savage, creativity, Failure, Maker Faire, MythBusters

Not Ready to Hack Into Your Smartphone? Start Here.

October 28, 2011 | 2:46 PM | By

For those looking to tinker with electronics, add buzzers, lights or sensors to an object, or teach kids (or themselves) the basics of circuitry, programming, and micro-controllers, it’s not as hard as you might think.

There are a number of kits available that make such projects relatively easy and accessible. Arduino, for example, offers a fairly simple hardware and software platform for people to get started.

But even with the simplicity of Arduino, there’s still a rather huge barrier to entry when it comes to working with hardware and software at this level — particularly for those with no engineering

“[This is] to enable people with little expertise in the field to be able to speak the language.”

background. Despite the openness of platforms like Arduino, the idea of wiring, soldering, and programming can be overwhelming.

As the electronics we use in our daily lives get more complicated, this turning away — in frustration, ignorance, or fear — is increasingly troublesome. We rely more on the very devices that are becoming like “black boxes”: impenetrable. We don’t understand what goes on “under the hood” Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, Arduino, littleBits, Maker Faire

What Role Do Corporations Play in Supporting STEM Education?

July 19, 2011 | 8:00 AM | By

The Smithsonian Institution

Last week, as part of the Imagine Cup award ceremony, Hal Plotkin, the Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Education, praised Microsoft for its commitment to STEM education with its hosting of the global student technology competition. Plotkin encouraged other companies to step up and invest in these sorts of endeavors. As the projects submitted to the Imagine Cup must tackle the UN’s Millennium Goals – poverty, hunger, disease, infant mortality, environmental destruction, and so on – it’s not just good for the U.S. education system, it’s good for the world.

Microsoft is not the only corporation involved in promoting STEM education.  Earlier this year, MindShift profiled the Change the Equation non-profit, through which companies like ExxonMobil, Dell and Lockheed Martin have supported science and technology education. Intel says it’s spent over $1 billion on education projects. And just last week, Google announced the winners of its first online global science fair, just one of the many programs that the search engine giant has undertaken to help encourage budding scientists, engineers, and programmers.

Corporate sponsorship and funding is seen as necessary to help boost the programs that oftentimes schools can’t afford. That seems to be particularly true when it comes to student competitions and science fairs, as these sorts of “extracurricular” projects are often on the chopping block when schools look to streamline their budgets.

But what are the implications of having students engaged in corporate-sponsored science? In the case of both the Imagine Cup and the Google Science Fair, participating students were required to use Microsoft and Google products respectively in their projects. Of course, students don’t often have a choice when it comes to the technology they get to use in the classroom. If your school has Windows computers, you use Windows; if your school runs Macs, you use Macs. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, Change the Equation, Maker Faire, Microsoft, microsoft imagine cup, STEM

The Virtues of the Open Web

April 27, 2011 | 2:52 PM | By

Dale Dougherty, founder of Maker Media (which organizes the annual Maker Faire), O’Reilly Media (publisher of all those great “Missing Manuals”) heralds the virtues of the open web and the history of open-source information in this talk at Open Educational Resources 2011 talk last month.

“The most important educational resource is the student,” he says.

FILED UNDER: Learning Methods, Dale Dougherty, Maker Faire, open education resources, Open Source