RVS STEAM Makers
How do we design learning experiences that allow students to make meaningful connections to the curriculum and their lives through the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math? Would you like to utilize makerspaces in your classroom and school? If you are interested in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), Makerspaces and coding/programming join the STEAM Makers Community of Practice. We have invited the STEM Learning Lab (http://stemlearninglab.com/) to work with a cohort of 20 teachers from Rocky View Schools. STEM Learning Lab will provide professional development from concept to design to implementation and will include opportunities for teachers to collaborate, imagine, create and mentor. We will investigate the integration of Technology and Curriculum and a Girls in Tech initiative to encourage girls to become more involved in technology, math and science. We ask that if you are considering this Community, you are prepared to commit to both C of P days, plus at least one, but preferably both, of the self-directed days. You will also receive release time for 4 more days during the year for a total of 8 PL days. There is a possibility of extending this initiative for up to 2 more years. Supporting experts include mathematicians, engineers, artists, musicians and scientists, and programmers. Global connections will be made.
STEM LEARNING LAB: Dr. Gina Cherkowski Founder and CEO
Our group is working closely with Dr. Cherkowski and her team STEM Learning Lab to encourage student engagement in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. The STEM Learning Lab believes it is critically important for kids to explore, create, play, and make, in order to learn about the world around them. They understand that children learn best when engaged in fun, challenge-based, hands-on learning experiences that connect the school curriculum to the real world in tangible and meaningful ways.
The STEM Learning Lab embraces a Growth Mindset and believe that every child can and should be literate in the domains of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. They believe that every child deserves a well-rounded, connected, and meaningful learning experience, their mission is to promote opportunities for all children to engage in high quality, inquiry-based STEM activities both inside, and outside, their classrooms.
The Steam Makers worked with Shannon Hoover and his team pushes design thinking to be iterative, intermediate “solutions” are potential starting points of alternative paths, allowing for the redefinition of the initial problem, in a process of co-evolution of problem and solution (Dorst, Kees, Cross, Nigel 2001).
FUSE 33 came together with a common vision: to create opportunity, self sustainability and, perhaps most importantly, community.
By fusing talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, and offering a large variety of maker tools ranging from 3D printers to leather sewing machines, their aim is to create a collaborative workspace that will foster growth and human connectivity.
Besides a vast array of educational classes, they offer tiers of monthly memberships that grant you access to our woodshop, tool library, computer lab loaded with software, metal shop, 3D printers, sewing shop and, yes, our LASERS (okay, not the ‘pew-pew’ scifi lasers, but the laser cutters are still pretty cool).
Their mission is to create a collaborative space with shared resources; allowing ideas to grow.
emergehub consists of
- an office space and meeting room
- A summer market development program
- A retail development program
- Business and community education programs
Each of these operations complements the others and allows emergeHUB to provide support to a wide range of social innovators, artists, entrepreneurs and community advocates. They seek in all ways to make participation in our operations accessible, drawing in diverse communities, and instilling a sense of contribution and belonging in all our members. emergeHUB is unique in Calgary, in their focus on community building beyond our walls and our commitment to working with and learning from our members every step of the way.
When immersed in Fuse 33 and emerge Hub the word participatory culture resonsted. For me it a new term relating to collective intelligence that encourages more participation and creativity from individuals in communities and society. What impressed me most is that in the participatory culture, individuals are not merely receiving information from outside world and following social norms passively, they have various channels (social networks) to create and deliver their own products, then interact and even influence public.
Defined by the New London Group authors, “the mission of education in a digital age is to ensure all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community, creative and economic life” (P.1). Participation is a key to create a sense of belonging for students, meanwhile connecting the teachers and students in a way that traditional didactic education system prevents them from doing.
Will the new transformative education system be successful and really helpful? It may take years to examine, but I wonder if the same practices would work for everyone from early children to lifelong learning and in different countries with a variety of cultural contexts? More studies and research should be in places to support the practice.
References:
Dorst, Kees; Cross, Nigel (2001). “Creativity in the design process: Co-evolution of problem-solution”. Design Studies. 22 (5): 425–437.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review. 66(1), 60-92.