Video – Maker Movement in Education: Keynote from INTED

This video is a keynote from the INTED conference in Valencia Spain on the topic of “A Global Revolution Goes to School: The Maker Movement”

This 30 minute keynote covers why the maker movement is something schools should pay attention to, and how to get started using the maker mindset and tools to revolutionize all subjects. The power of design as a way for students to learn is just beginning to be recognized in schools around the world. As innovative schools develop makerspaces and more hands-on curriculum, students benefit from real and relevant exploration of STEM and other subjects.

Video – Design & Innovation in Schools Keynote (TECH 2017)

I keynoted the TECH 2017 UNESCO Conference in Visakhapatnam, India in December 2017. At this interesting conference, they had 15 minute keynotes, then a response panel and audience questions for maximum interactivity. They asked me to be as provocative as possible.

This is a video of just my 15 minute keynote.

Sylvia Martinez keynote Design & Innovation in Schools TECH2017  on Vimeo.

If you liked that – watch the whole thing (about an hour)! Panelists: Mila Thomas Fuller President, Board of Directors, ISTE; Olivier Hamant Research Director, Lyon; Gautam Khetrapal Founder, LifePlugin.com and Head of Product Marketing, Mindvalley

And if you liked that – check out the other videos from this conference, including Sugata Mitra’s keynote, which was very provocative and caused a lot of good conversation throughout.

Video: Girls (and boys) and STEM

Sylvia Martinez is the guest on this Jan 12, 2017 recording of an interactive webinar with Edtech Interactive dived into the subject of gender and STEM. Hosted by Mitch Weisburgh on a fun platform called Shindig, the session includes several audience members sharing how they encourage diversity and inclusion in their STEM programs.

January 12, Girls (and Boys) and STEM with Sylvia Martinez

Topics:

  • What assumptions are we all making that inhibit girls from pursuing and thriving in STEM careers?
  • How can we take advantage of the differences between male and female approaches, skills, and aptitudes in STEM?
  • How do we strengthen the STEM <–> Playfulness connection?
  • What gender-inclusive practices can we all embrace?

See other EdTech Interactive webinars

FETC session on Girls and STEM – Orlando, January 26, 2017

The Maker Movement: What it Looks Like, Mindsets and Motivation

 just posted an interview with me called, The Maker Movement: What it Looks Like, Mindsets and Motivation,  on the GettingSmart.com website. She’s a “Maker Mom” and blogs about her journey with her daughter to make things and learn!

“But even as I have to relinquish the power of being the all-knowing, all-capable, decision maker and leader, I get a very different and much more satisfying kind of power. It’s a super-power, really: the ability to learn with my daughter on the same level, as partners. There is a beautiful giving up of control that not only allows me to connect with my child on a different level, it is also liberating in that I get to be ok with not having all the answers or being able to just give my child the outcome she wants. We have to earn it together. As a result we both experience the kinds of learning that is described as authentic, inquiry-based, constructionist, or constructivist.”

We sat down for a video interview as well!

Video – New Research Seeks to Find Out How Making Becomes Learning

One of the questions we consistently get in our sessions and workshops is about assessment. How do we know what kids are learning if there is no written test? Is this maker stuff more than just a new fad? While there are traditional ways that projects can be assessed (such as teacher observation techniques,) there is new research going on at Stanford in Dr. Paulo’s Blikstein’s Transformative Learning Technologies Lab that is starting to answer these questions. This video is a terrific overview of several new research studies, called Multi-modal Learning Analytics, on what is really going on when students do hands-on, maker activities.

There is so much in this video, I’m going to try to explore each of these studies separately in future posts.

  • Differences between students starting hands-on activities with detailed instructions vs. very little instruction. Do they get lost with no instruction? Or do they get “addicted” to the cookbook? Can students change from one type to another?
  • Are digital simulations the same as students doing real experiments?
  • Is video lecture or textbook reading preceding classroom projects (flipped classroom) better than exploration before instruction? Does flipped model work better with video over text? In other words, does the order or the media matter?
  • Do tutorials help with exploration activities?
  • Why different programming languages work better for learning.
  • Is it necessary for maker classrooms to be “sink or swim”?
  • Gender and other equity issues in “Maker Movement” culture
  • Differences in use of makerspaces in low-income schools vs. wealthier schools reflecting differences in school-wide pedagogy.
  • Observation and assessment tools for maker activities – maker tables and logic flows.
  • Looking at body position, gestures, and eye movements to try to understand the learner.

While this is all early research, it’s rich with potential for understanding more about how we learn, and how we can create optimal environments for learning for all students.

Educon session video – MakerEd Design Sprint

This is the video of the Educon 2014 session “MakerEd Design Sprint”. Unfortunately, it’s not very good audio or video. The first ten minutes or so are hard to hear, and then when we move into the actual working part of the session, there is not much to watch. Everyone there was working in small groups and sharing their ideas.

The website where we collected the group work (lesson ideas and prompts) is here: K12makers.org

Making is a stance toward learning – interview by Howard Rheingold

Howard Rheingold (yes, THE Howard Rheingold) invited me to join him for a web broadcast, so of course I said yes! Here’s the video capture.

Howard also said,

“Making and building projects that personally interest students and an iterative design process don’t mean that teachers’ guidance becomes less necessary. A good corollary to “education is an igniting, not a pouring,” is “without banks, a stream would be a lake.” Teachers are there more to show students how to learn than to instruct them, step by step, what to do – they can get that from YouTube or Instructables. By combining learner autonomy, powerful materials like Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and guidance, teachers can give students permission to explore and help them gain fluency in the art of learning in the real world. Listen to my conversation with Martinez. Read her and Stager’s book. Put less than $100 of materials out on the table in your classroom. Let your students dream, try, fumble, retry, learn.”

Thanks, Howard, that was fun and a great honor!

Arduino for Educators “Geekout”

I had the privilege of joining a conversation with the great Howard Rheingold last week in a HOMAGO Google hangout. HOMAGO stands for “Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out” which was the theme (and title) of Mimi Ito’s amazing book about digital youth learning culture. Our scheduled topic was “Arduino for Educators” but we really didn’t stick to one topic!

If you can’t see the embedded video below, here’s the link.