Check out http://www.inventtolearn.com

In the STEAM movement, we seek to engage students in a love of learning about science, technology, art, and math.  In previous posts, we have discussed the risks to our local and national development if we continue to graduate students who don’t value science, math, engineering, and being creative.   How do we inspire students to become innovators and creators rather than passive consumers?

Our team at Mercer Engineering Research Center has started to brainstorm community programs to engage and inspire middle and high school students in middle Georgia.  With this vision in mind, we feel that middle Georgia community needs a maker space.     A maker space seeks to inspire creativity and curiosity by empowering us to work on creative projects of personal interest.  In our plan, the Maker spaces will be supported by experienced technologists, engineers, scientists and artists who desire to see growth in our community.

The Makers movement builds upon learning theory of Seymour Papert and Jean Piaget.  According to Papert, “Some of the most crucial steps in mental growth are based not simply on acquiring new skills, but on acquiring new administrative ways to use what one already knows.”    In contrast to the instructionism paradigm of learning, Papert and other constructionists believe that deeper learning occurs when students are presented with new knowledge and are encouraged to immediately make something that helps them apply the ideas.   Through the act of making, students construct mental pathways linking new ideas back to experiences they already have in a playful way.

Our team has enjoyed studying the following resources to help us plan our future Maker space efforts:

• “Invent To Learn:  Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom” by Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager.  Vick Davis (@coolcatteacher) has a wonderful summary of this book here.  I can’t recommend this book enough.   I love the discussion of learning theory .   It also argues that computer programming, digital fabrication, and hardware tinkering can help keep students engaged and grow them in design thinking.   It promotes situations where students can learn new knowledge and immediately apply it in playful ways.
• http://makerspace.com/playbook : The “Makerspace Playbook” guides those who are hoping to start a Makerspace at their school or in their community.  I was amazed by the balance of this free e-book.   In addition to discussing the technical aspects of running the maker space, it reviews safety, teaching styles, and community building models.
• Maker Camp – Free Virtual Summer Camp for Teens:   The Maker Camp teaching sessions have provided practical inspiration and project ideas.  The following video showcases projects from Maker Camp 2013.  Check out more Maker Camp videos on YouTube.  We want to bring this creativity, curiosity, and energy to our community in Middle, GA all year long!

To help focus our planning efforts, please consider taking the following three question survey.   In future blog entries, I will provide a summary of responses to our readers.   Thank you for your time and support.

Related Posts:

• Benefits of Teaching Kids To Code That No One Is Talking About
• 7 Reasons Why The Makers Movement Is Revolutionary
• How to Build Your Mobile App using HTML
• Maker Camp: Free Virtual Summer Camp For Teens
• 5 Resources To Help You Teach Kids Programming
• 5 reasons to love Khan academy for computer science

I honestly want to be the best teacher that I can be. It truly pains me when students fail or withdraw from my courses. This week two students dropped one of my courses, and there are others that haven’t showed up for several classes in a row. When this happens, I think it is important to take time to reflect about what went wrong. Sometimes though, we can be too hard on ourselves as teachers. I read an article this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, “It’s the Little Things That Count in Teaching“. It was full of tips for how to cultivate student engagement through seemingly small details, such as maintaining a positive attitude, showing up early to class, etc. While this is all great advice, I think it is also important to bear in mind, that we can’t save them all. Some students simply won’t be successful, and that is ok.

In my state, the university system is placing increasing emphasis on student retention. Many of our schools (mine included) have somewhat abysmal completion rates. In recent history we have focused all of our attention on student enrollment. More students, means more tuition money for the institutions. Unfortunately, these students are not always graduating. One of the problems that comes along with this is an increasing number of people with large amounts of student debt, but no degree to show for it. The pendulum seems to be swinging in the opposite direction, and we are now going to be awarded state funding based on our enrollment and our retention rates.

Our administration has preached the gospel of retain, retain, retain. We are implementing new programs to help intervene early when students show signs of disengagement. We have started a special course for first year students to help them navigate the college process. Professors have been asked to work harder at keeping students in their classes. To be fair, these are all good things, but the truth is that some students just won’t succeed, no matter how hard we try. There must be a balance between maintaining academic standards and possessing an element of flexibility that allows for student success.

Sometimes I think that our American “can do” attitude makes it hard to us to accept failure, but failure is an essential part of life. Every successful business person can list for you the number of times that they tried an idea, and failed. I once read in a book about relationships that we tend to view breakups as heartbreaking events, but in reality a failed relationship can prevent a lifetime in a loveless marriage.  In this context, I want to discuss some of the reasons students fail and how I try to address them.

1) They are not ready for college. This is especially true at my school. We are an access institution which means that we serve students that aren’t adequately prepared for college. They don’t have the study habits and their high school courses were mostly inadequate. These students have a choice, gain the skills, or face failure. As an institution we provide tutoring services and study skills workshops. As a professor, I try to give my students all the tools and resources they need, but sometimes it isn’t enough.

2) Life gets in the way. Teaching has made me realize how privileged my life has been. This semester alone (and we are only a month in) I have had students lose a parent, some have been hospitalized, others have children facing life threatening illnesses. They struggle financially, balancing work and school. It is incredibly hard to focus under this sort of duress. I try to be as flexible as possible. As long as my students are communicating with me about their struggles, I can make accommodations within reason, I can extend deadlines and excuse absences, but it is an uphill battle and I cannot compromise the academic integrity of the course.

3) Some students just don’t care. One problem that we have created is that college has become a sort of rest area between high school and the real world. Students can spend time in college, aimlessly taking courses and accumulating student loans without bearing the burden of financial responsibility. This sets these students up for a rough road ahead. They should not be in college in the first place. It would serve them much better to spend some time in the workplace. As a professor, I have to accept that they are in my class and do my best to show them the value of my course and their degree path.

These are just a few reasons that students fail. What are some other possible reasons? And what can we do about them?