Click here to check out our Innovative Learning Project site! For our innovative Learning Project, each of the team members were asked to create a lesson plan that was inspired by innovative technologies and the Maker Movement and then, as a group, to combine all of our plans onto one website. Creating the site ran smoothly for multiple reasons. Firstly, my teammates were extremely easy to collaborate with. Each team member did their part quickly and even helped answer questions I had while creating the website. Secondly, I had already used this website making platform before so I had some preexisting knowledge on the layout of the site and how to use the tools. And lastly, the feedback from the year 2 students was informative and stimulating. I applied quite a few of their ideas to my website and incorporated them within the project itself. Here is a sneak peek of the website I created. Click here to visit it! The main purpose of the activity “This is not a cup” is to challenge students to quickly think outside of the box without much direction or many rules. The significance of this is that students are allowed to create, explore, make and build and are encouraged to let go of the fear of “messing up”. Although this is a low tech project, it still has an innovative and unique approach that makes it valuable. To further defend this point, I bring up Koehler and Mishra's article Too Cool for School? No way! Learning and Leading with Technology where they argue that "almost everything that is artificial... is technology, whether low tech or high tech" (Pg. 15). So, we take something as simple as a Styrofoam cup – which does not originally have an educational purpose at all – and repurpose it by turning it into an amazing three-dimensional sculpture! Although this activity could probably be applied to most subject matter, in my art room, the main objective of the project is for students to demonstrate their understanding of our two vocabulary concepts – void and in-the-round with their final sculpture. A "before and after" photo. The planning stage of this whole project was the toughest and most intimidating part. I had no idea what to do at first. It actually kept me up at night because I was racking my brain with what technology to use. Originally, I felt like I had to use some kind of high-tech tool or advanced technology. Because of this, I felt limited in resources and I knew I didn’t want to spend much money putting something together. Finally, after discussing different possibilities with my team and instructor, a lightbulb went off; whatever I used did not have to be expensive or comprised of electronics. It could be something as simple as a Styrofoam cup but as open-ended as repurposing it. Once I had the idea of what the project would be, everything seemed to be smooth sailing from there. The process of planning the website was easy because of the reasons mentioned above. One major takeaway was learning how to do the RQI technique – the Right Question Institute - which is a presented by Warren Berger in his book, A More Beautiful Question (Berger, 2016, Pg. 65). This is something I plan on using in my own classroom. I see a lot of value in the maker movement because it is essentially what art education has been doing for hundreds if not thousands of years. There may not be electronics typically involved in art but the basic ideas are similar. Both require a hands-on approach and creative problem solving. As Halverson and Sheridan (2014) argue in their book, The maker movement in education, "artists and art educators have long histories of supporting learning in the making across a variety of art forms and media" (Pg. 498). Regardless of my role as an art educator, I believe that any type of educator should include making in their lessons - it's just that using artistic creativity can make it even more successful!
However, I do see the argument that Halverson and Sheridan (2014) made about how makerspaces are more organic and unless there are at least a few guidelines set up – like in my example, students demonstrated the understanding of sculpture concepts through the maker activity – or some kind of end result expected, "learning is not guaranteed; nor is it regulated" (Pg. 502). The most important takeaway that I experienced with this project is that a teacher can create a successful innovative project with low tech equipment. Take for example, how Mishra describes a myth about technology and creativity in education in Rethinking Tehcnology and Creativity in the 21st Century, “The technology tools we have today should drive how we conceptualize teaching and learning...” (Pg.13). This relates to how, at the beginning of the project, I was so wrapped up in the fact that I had to find some kind of high-tech tool or advanced technology to use in order to create a successful lesson. I was so focused on the tech driving the lesson. With some careful thought, I realized that this did not have to be the case. A simple list of ingredients was all that was needed. If I were to give advice to someone else about this process, I would say be creative and use resources that are available to you or are inexpensive. Educational technology and the Maker Movement certainly can include electronics and high-tech tools but don’t necessarily have to. Consider repurposing something. That in itself is innovative and is considered educational technology. Look around you.. could you use anything in the room you’re in for something other than it’s original or sole purpose? For example, the tip of a cap of a Crayola marker could be dipped into paint and stamped onto paper to create an abstract painting. If you’re interested in creating a resource website yourself, consider pairing up with colleagues from different content areas. This will help make your website more accessible and attractive to an even wider group of people. The website should be easy to navigate. I recommend writing the lesson plan in a way that is clear, concise, and includes pictures or visuals to enhance viewer understanding. I suggest considering whether or not you’d like to publish you actual whole lesson plan or just bits and pieces so as to not give your whole lesson away. Again, you can click here to check out our Innovative Learning Project site or click here to see my personal lesson that I taught. References Berger, W. (2016). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York: Bloomsbury. Halverson, E.R. & Sheridan, K. (2014). The maker movement in education. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 495-465. Koehler, M.J., & Mishra, P. (2009). Too cool for school? No way! Learning and leading with technology. Link to article: “Too Cool for School” Mishra, P., & The Deep-Play Research Group (2012). Rethinking technology and creativity in the 21st century: Crayons are the future. TechTrends, 56(5), 13-16.
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