Maker Education: Reaching All Learners (Transcript)

Pam: One of the things that we’ve discovered is that Maker Education with kids gets them engaged, gets them passionate about the work, gives them opportunities to pursue things that they’re interested in. And as a result, it really raises the level of work that kids are doing, and it starts to make sense. School makes sense.

Ali: This is actually my first year at this school. I thought this would be a great program that they’re doing here, letting you build your own stuff, and have more freedom than other schools. I feel like I’m learning way more doing this.

Ira: When we tell students what to do, all they’re learning is to comply with us. But there’s nothing more powerful to build that sense of intrinsic motivation than making something that really matters to you.

Nick: And these are your analog pins. This is my Pitcher Helper. It has eleven lasers right here on your side, and seven lasers on the bottom right here. And they both shoot up into some photo resisters right here.

Terry: The sixth grade, we really struggled. He struggled in science and math a little bit last year.

Nick: Usually, I just wake up, be like, “Well, why do I want to go to school? All we’re going to do is sit in the class.” Mr. Redder in the Technology Room says, “Learn with your hands.” And I built the entire code by myself. I’m pretty proud, because I didn’t think I could get anything of this caliber done.

Terry: That really lit a fire under him. I knew he had it in him, I just didn’t think I’d see it so quickly. You know, it’s kind of open your eyes a little bit. Like there are other ways of doing things.

Ira: He’s just learning because he’s doing something that matters to him. And that’s what we believe in.

Pam: Making provides a different pathway to learning. And one off the things that we know as we watch our kids make, they oftentimes are bringing in all of the different content areas. But what it’s doing is giving them a context for learning.

Eric: Right, it’ll be a little bit shorter.

Eric: I had a girl last year who was redoing some stools for us. And we were measuring the circles, and as she’s cutting them, she goes, “This is the thing we did in geometry!” That she did fine on her homeworks, got an A in the class. But not until she was making this really beautiful stool did she say, “Holy-moly! This makes sense!”

Karen: What I think is probably the most impactful to me is watching the students who come in in a classroom who haven’t felt really successful in school. All of a sudden, these kids who might struggle with reading, but who are really strong at building something with their hands, where they can kind of envision things three steps ahead, they’re starting to be looked at by other kids, like, “Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!” Because just they had not had an opportunity necessarily to show that kind of strength that they had.

Student: We need to make that a little longer than that.

Kendra: We were able to see some kids that were building aqueducts. Well, last year this time, four of those students were having major behavior problems about this time of the school year. So it just shows the power of engagement. The power of choice. And Maker allows for that.

Pam: The choice in the kinds of projects that kids do is one of the things that we believe is really critical. That kids should have a chance to really think about, “How do I want to show what it is that I’m learning here?”

Jack: We’re building a coliseum from Rome.

Alexis: I really like architectural structures, and hands-on things.

Jackson: Minecraft is a game that you use blocks to build things. So we’re building a Roman coliseum in Minecraft.

Pam: What we try to do is to give the kids the tools. And that can be as simple as cardboard, or as sophisticated as 3D printers, and music production studios, and basically say, “Let’s turn people loose and unleash the potential to make.”

Kolion: What I do with my school work, is I rap everything. I started writing music to my homework assignments, and then now they say I can write my music to projects.

Kolion: I would never have a grade by me. Get in a couple bands now, Making me so lifting my grades for a couple of fans.

Kolion: There’s one way of learning things is listen to somebody else explain it to you. But if you do it yourself, look up your own research and everything else, you start getting it by yourself, and it helps you progress and remember it better.

Kolion: Because I’m working hard. My stress is finally running out.

Pam: And so for me, it’s not about the cardboard or the glue gun. When kids become agents of their own learning, when they embrace their own learning, when they own their future, that, for me, is giving kids a lifetime off learning that will carry them through job after job; through learning experience after learning experience into workforce; into post-secondary education; into their homes; into their communities. It’s all important.

Student: Wrapping these colors.

Student: Like all of them together.

Student: I think so.

Schools That Work

Albemarle County Public Schools