I have always had some projects on the go. I love painting and creating. My creations depend on the season, in spring and summer I find myself making different flower beds out of rocks or making an easel out of branches and recycled wooden windows. In the fall and winter, I find myself painting rooms or creating different pieces to hang up on my living room walls.

Wearable and Moveable

Challenge: Make a wearable, include a moveable part.

I created a memory bracelet. Each ring represented something I did from my bucket list or something amazing I witnessed. I added my initials charm, this was the moveable piece, it rotated around or flopped from side to side. This was a last-minute addition. If I were to continue working on this challenge I would like to add more to the moveable piece.

Big Idea: A take away from this challenge is that a maker project can be created out of anything. All it takes is that one idea.

Reflect: This was the first challenge we were presented with. I have to be honest I found myself in a fixed mindset and feeling a bit disconnected with this challenge. I think it was because I had difficulty coming up with an idea and wasn’t sure of my parameters. At this point I wasn’t fully committed to the maker mind set.

Anton’s Arcade

Challenge: After watching Atons Arcade our challenge was to make a game where students could play and win tickets.

We had a short time so part of our challenge was to work in a group and quickly plan, implement, and create an arcade game with limited supplies provided.

Big Idea: This was definitely an A-HA moment. I enjoyed this challenge immensely. I found it engaging and so fun. I believe that this challenge can be so relatable for any age. Going forward it is a challenge that I would bring into the classroom.

Reflect: I believe that this challenge can be so relatable for any age. I would use this maker challenge at any time of the year. But I believe it would be very beneficial to use during the beginning of the new school year. It would be a great way for students to get to know each other. I could also use this maker challenge in December as a whole school challenege.

Boat Challenge

Challenge: Our group was challenged to build a boat using only one piece of aluminum foil. We tested the boat by gradually adding pennies to see how much weight it could hold. Our goal was to design a boat that could support the most pennies and withstand the highest weight.

Big Idea: This is a great maker challenge. I liked that it was a low prep maker and could be used for a range of grades.

Reflect: This was so much fun to build! I enjoyed working with a group because everyone contributed their own ideas. Although our boat didn’t hold the most pennies, we were able to observe other groups during the testing process and consider ways we could iterate our design.

Maker With A Purpose

Challenge: This maker challenge was inspired by a real-life scenario. The goal was to design a pathway or area that would allow animals to safely cross a highway. Our specific scenario focused on creating a solution for an endangered snail species.

Big Idea: This was an amazing maker challenge! Adding the real-life element made it enjoyable and sparked motivation through compassion. If I have the opportunity, I would definitely bring this challenge into my classroom.

Reflect: I liked that this challenge brought heart and purpose to the design process.

3-D Printing Pen

Challenge: 3-D Pen exploration. This challenge allowed us to create using a 3-D printing pen.

Big Idea: Creating with the 3-D pen came with challenges. I found the filament very difficult to work with but if given more time I would have liked to explore more. Using the silicon mats that were provided was a great starting tool. This is a tech that I would bring into the classroom as it is a starter tool for 3-D printing. When using it I would first start with exploration as it does take some time getting use to the tool operations.

Reflect: Although I had difficulty with the 3-D pens, as I looked around the room, I saw many amazing creations made by my fellow teacher candidates. This made me realize that even though I struggled, students in my class would likely enjoy using the 3-D pens. Some may find it challenging, so having some kind of differentiation available would be a good plan.

Mid-Tech: Lego Robotics

Challenge: With partners create a virtual pet using robotic Lego, 3-D pen, and make-do screws for cardboard.

Introducing our virtual pet Fredericton. He is a handsome fella. He is afraid of the rain; this is why he carries his umbrella and his vision is very poor and depends heavily on his glasses.

Big Idea: This maker challenge is great; students are engaged in the creative side and the building side. I will defiantly use this project in my classroom. It can be adaptable to fit the diversity of learners in a class. I appreciated that this could be a low-tech challenge or a high-tech challenge.

Reflect:  This maker challenge is versatile, as it can be a partner challenge or if a student prefers to work individually this is a challenge that could apply to that need. For me, it was very beneficial to work with a partner as I was not very familiar of robotics Lego. I was able to work with my strengths working on the creative side of the challenge and my partner did the building. I learned as we built Fredericton how the robotic Lego pieces fit together and how the motor is the brain for movement.

Challenge: In groups we were to create an object using the 3-D printer. The first goal was create a prototype of our object. Then get familar with the application Tinker Cad. Finally, we were to print our object.

Big Idea: This was a big challenge for me, as I often struggle with new tech. But I would definetly want to give students the opportunity to explore 3-D printing. I know they will excell when using this technology!

Reflect: Overall, this project gave me the biggest A-HA moment! I went on a rollercoaster of emotions—I started with a fixed mindset, but after experiencing a small success, I was instantly motivated to keep going. Suddenly, a growth mindset was established! We decided to create a tensegrity structure, a design that uses tension and compression to give the appearance of a floating top section. This structure is built to withstand significant weight due to the balanced forces of tension and compression within its components. Although our final product was a bit of a bust, if we had time we would have iterated the design, we would to change the design from many pieces to two whole structures for printing. It is important to give students the opportunity to iterate on their designs, as working through failures is part of achieving success in a project.

Iteration helps students practice higher-level thinking by encouraging them to review and improve their work. Through this process, they use what they already know to analyze and assess their progress (Cohen et al. p 224). One lesson I learned is that students (and myself) need to become comfortable with failure and view it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Challenge: The challenge was to design a system that would prevent squirrels from eating the food in bird feeders.

Big Idea: What I enjoyed about this challenge was its open-ended nature; each group could choose their own approach to tackle the problem. As we shared ideas, we discovered an application that was perfect for our design.

Reflect: This design project was so fun. I liked that the application was very user friendly. I know students would enjoy using this tech.

Challenge: Through a creative selection process, as a group we were to devise a problem in Cranbrook and create a solution.

Big Idea: I really appreciated working through this inquiry process. I would use this approach to identify a local problem and develop creative solutions.

Reflect: I find the inquiry process a bit overwhelming, but this approach helped make it more manageable. I appreciated that it included the whole class. Another element of this process is that the solution could be imaginative or even out of this world, which would keep students engaged.

I enjoyed touring the maker space that is open to the public in Cranbrook. It is great to know that our little city has facilities like this one!

As teachers it is important to make learning spaces for students through an equatible lens. According to Kye (2020), design spaces should not only be inclusive but should also be culturlaly responsive, this also applies to maker websites.

According to Kye (2020), in order to attain culture responsive pedagogy (CRP) there are 5 important factors:

  • Develop a knowledge base about cultural diversity.
  • Include ethnic and cultural diversity content in the curriculum.
  • Demonstrate caring and building learning communities.
  • Communicating with ethnic diverse students.
  • Responding to ethnic diversity in the delivery of instruction.

Throughout this course, I’ve noticed a shift in my approach to the maker process. Initially, I found the concept challenging—perhaps because I was uncomfortable with the possibility of failure. However, as I worked through projects and saw the value of learning from setbacks, I began to appreciate and understand the process much more. I’ve come to see that iteration and experimentation are essential parts of creating something meaningful, and I’m now more open to embracing failure as a valuable step in learning and growth.

Reference

Canva. (2024). Headlines for WordPress. Retrieved [November 8th 2024], from https://www.canva.com

Cohen, J., Jones, W.M., Smith, S. & Calandra, B. (2017). Makification: Towards a Framework for Leveraging the Maker Movement in Formal Education. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 26(3), 217-229. Waynesville, NC USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved October 20th 2024, from EDCI 487 Brightspace.

Kye, H. (2020). Who Is Welcome Here? A Culturally Responsive Content Analysis of Makerspace Websites. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research, 10(2), 1–.

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (Nov 8 Version). (used for spelling and some sentence structure). Retrieved from https://chat.openai.com/