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News from the K-12 MakerLab

February 24, 2020

Maker Tips and Inspiration, and new STEM projects

Maker learning and student behaviors - what's the connection?
The results are in for Part 1 of our informal survey on teaching challenges in the classroom.
Now we ask: Do the challenges from students' behaviors and attitudes change during hands-on learning activities? Please TAKE THE FOLOWUP SURVEY
Stay tuned for the comparison of results in our next newsletter!

New STEM projects posted on the MIT Edgerton Center site. This page now has step-by-step insructional guides for a range of projects that promote STEM skills and awareness. All projects were developed at the MIT Edgerton Center as activities for grades 4 - 12.
Highlight: Arduino Garden Introduce physical computing to students grade 6 and up with this 1 hour activity. Gardeners design animated/responsive characters like flowers that turn to the sunlight, or bears that swat buzzing bees. This activity requires significant prep, but can then be used over and over.

K12 MakerLab + MIT MechEng + FundacionMustakis de Chile = Music Makers

How do you convince an established arts-education non-profit that it’s a good idea to have kids build musical instruments that might not stay in tune? Hear how La Fundacion Mustakis in Chile took the plunge into Maker education with MIT and got kids hooked on engineering. Watch a recent ISTE STEM webinar with the K12 MakerLab's Leilani Roser.
Here's how a student described the week-long experience: "you learn a lot, and really dig deep. ...at first glance it's a workshop for developing a musical instrument, but in the past few days, we've investigated frequencies, how they're made, the influence of science, technology and engineering, the physics of instruments, how music has affected human evolution"

PD Opportunities at the MIT Edgerton Center K-12 MakerLab

Makerspace leaders, technology integrators, and STEM coaches: Learn how to design and deliver customized Maker projects that boost students’ confidence, competence, and engagement with STEM.

Join a group of like-minded educators in a two-month training and coaching program - Master Making in the Classroom.

Session 1 includes 2 July training days and continues through October - Registration is OPEN
Session 2 starts in September and continues through the Fall – dates are now set and registration is OPEN

Click here to learn more and register for Master Making in the Classroom

Educators with Makerspaces and tools: Take a full-day hands-on workshop and learn how to design projects, set up a Makerspace, or use Maker tools in the classroom: 3-D printers, laser cutters, electronics, and coding with Arduino and Micro:bit. All materials are provided and beginners are welcome!

Spring workshops are scheduled between April 7 and May 8
Summer workshops are scheduled between June 17 and July 18

Click here for full schedule, workshop descriptions, and registration for Maker Skills Workshops

Interested in some other type of training or consulting either at MIT or at your space? Contact us at edgerton-k12-maker@mit.edu

Maker/STEM Student Opportunities from other MIT groups

Registration is Open for MIT Spark - a weekend of classess for middle-schoolers, on anything and everything, run and taught by MIT students excited by things they have learned and thrilled to share them! Spark is held March 14-15, registration closes March 3.

Space is still available for high school and middle school teams to compete in the annual Science Trivia Challenge, sponsored by the MIT Club of Boston and held as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. This year’s competition will take place at the MIT Broad Institute on Wed April 22, from 6 – 9pm. Students will have an opportunity to talk with scientists from the Broad Institute for an hour before the event.

PD Opportunities from friends outside MIT

Constructing Modern Knowledge is a 4-day minds-on institute for educators committed to creativity, collaboration, and computing. Participants have the opportunity to engage in intensive computer-rich project development with peers and a world-class faculty. Inspirational guest speakers and social events round out the fantastic event.
CMK 2020 is July 14-17 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Conferences & Events

Medfield Design Your Learnng Day at Medfield HS March 27
Ready to run a Maker project but not sure what you'll do? Join the MIT K12 Maker team for Play with Project Design. Play a brainstorming game designed to help you create Maker projects that fit your and your students - walk away with a handful of new project ideas and a free deck of brainstorming cards.

The 2020 NSTA National Conference is coming to Boston in April!

The NSTA (National Science Teachers Assoc) national conference is a humongous 4-day event (April 2-5). On Sunday April 5 Diane Brancazio and Leilani Roser will be leading a hands-on session called Democratize STEM with Maker. We’ll be helping educators learn how Maker projects in upper elementary and middle school give kids the awareness, knowledge, and inspiration they need to pursue STEM pathways in high school and beyond.

At the NSTA conference exhibit hall we’ll be showcasing our Maker ideas and projects designed to enrich academic classrooms, and can answer questions about our PD offerings. Sharing the booth with us are our friends from MIT’s Beaver Works. They’ll be showing projects and providing information about the Beaver Works Summer Institute, a rigorous STEM program for talented students who will be entering their senior year in high school.

The mission of the K-12 MakerLab team is to help K-12 classroom educators create and deliver fun, enriching Maker experiences to their students - no matter what subject they teach. Building upon our experiences as K-12 teachers, we work directly with other educators to collect and co-design resources. Our team is part of the MIT Edgerton Center, a home for experiential learning at MIT for decades, The Edgerton Center offers classes and resources in engineering and imaging, and supports student engineering clubs and teams, in addition to offering a year-round K-12 program.
We design, create, and teach at the MIT Edgerton Center Student Project Lab, a working Makerspace filled with MIT students, staff, and community as well as a wide variety of prototyping/Maker tools and materials.
Contact us: Diane Brancazio and Leilani Roser, program leaders

twitter.com/k12maker

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