Hi stefan
the kids started piecing together the bits and pieces extracted from the disassembly of toys and electronics. They didn’t need much prompting. also a lot to be learnt about the materiality of our gadgets and demystificatuon of the ubiquitous devices.
This sounds like a great a activity to promote this incredible project more widely across the school and have students parents and teachers focused on working towards one creative outcome. Looking forward to the next session and seeing the diversity in approaches. I am still so surprised by how focused the students are for the entire session on just one task, often problem solving and asking lots of questions of each other. Can’t wait for the exhibition too! Thanks Greg Kylie
hi kylie,
We may need some more basic tools if we get a surge of attendance. The focus has been a real surprise for me too, but as I read more of the research literature it is something that other educators are observing as well. It has to do with the autonomy the kids have in the playful exploration and experimentation enabled by the space, tools, resources and the community. Furthermore, as opposed to canned or preset activities and the various gadgets available (think programmable robots, and other kits), these activities are free of structure and encourage a playful approach, very important to creativity. With more support, time, resources and community engagement this space could become an important educational hub. Thank you for all your support so far 🙂
hi mel,
be great to have you and the kids back. It is very important to have the input of the community, primarily the kids, but also parents and teachers. IT is through their engagement and suggestions that the space can grow.
I love this concept – a creative outcome for students and they get to take things apart and see how they work during the process.
The idea of reusing old items that are obsolete or broken rather than throwing them away is a great thing to teach kids.
I think it would be great to have something like this in all schools – maybe we can set something up at our local school?
hi lisa,
thank you for the comments. Many schools will be looking at implementing the digital literacy curriculum for 2017 and this project is one of many possibilities for engaging the younger students in an activity that can address some of the curriculum requirements. The activity has wider implications as it highlights the waste of consumerism, the materiality of the devices we use on a daily basis, the types of resources that go into their construction and the environmental impact of obtaining these resources. I envisage that the activity could be a starting point for older students to discuss some of the issues mentioned above.
This is so wonderful, I work in a similar way but have used photography and Photoshop rather than sculpture to repurpose the technology around me.
Brilliant idea! Spread the reuse and ingenuity messages at once 🙂
Hi stefan
the kids started piecing together the bits and pieces extracted from the disassembly of toys and electronics. They didn’t need much prompting. also a lot to be learnt about the materiality of our gadgets and demystificatuon of the ubiquitous devices.
This sounds like a great a activity to promote this incredible project more widely across the school and have students parents and teachers focused on working towards one creative outcome. Looking forward to the next session and seeing the diversity in approaches. I am still so surprised by how focused the students are for the entire session on just one task, often problem solving and asking lots of questions of each other. Can’t wait for the exhibition too! Thanks Greg Kylie
hi kylie,
We may need some more basic tools if we get a surge of attendance. The focus has been a real surprise for me too, but as I read more of the research literature it is something that other educators are observing as well. It has to do with the autonomy the kids have in the playful exploration and experimentation enabled by the space, tools, resources and the community. Furthermore, as opposed to canned or preset activities and the various gadgets available (think programmable robots, and other kits), these activities are free of structure and encourage a playful approach, very important to creativity. With more support, time, resources and community engagement this space could become an important educational hub. Thank you for all your support so far 🙂
This looks like a really engaging activity for all skill levels. We haven’t been to the maker space for a little while, but we’ll be back next week…
hi mel,
be great to have you and the kids back. It is very important to have the input of the community, primarily the kids, but also parents and teachers. IT is through their engagement and suggestions that the space can grow.
I love this concept – a creative outcome for students and they get to take things apart and see how they work during the process.
The idea of reusing old items that are obsolete or broken rather than throwing them away is a great thing to teach kids.
I think it would be great to have something like this in all schools – maybe we can set something up at our local school?
hi lisa,
thank you for the comments. Many schools will be looking at implementing the digital literacy curriculum for 2017 and this project is one of many possibilities for engaging the younger students in an activity that can address some of the curriculum requirements. The activity has wider implications as it highlights the waste of consumerism, the materiality of the devices we use on a daily basis, the types of resources that go into their construction and the environmental impact of obtaining these resources. I envisage that the activity could be a starting point for older students to discuss some of the issues mentioned above.