iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

"I love to come up with project ideas. The brainstorming process feels a bit like going to a candy store, where I get to peruse past experiences, seek out new interests, find materials, and feel inspired by whatever pops up. Or better yet, it’s more like being a chef with a giant pantry full of ingredients. I can pick various spices here and a random ingredient there and then I get to fuse them together to create a new dish. Or perhaps it’s a bit like being an explorer. Yes, I have the constraint of a curriculum map but this map should inspire possibilities rather than limit my route. I get to explore and find new possibilities."

Best practices now suggest that instead of cocooning students, we teach them to be good digital citizens, confident and competent. Here are eleven projects to teach kids authentically, blended with your regular lessons, the often complicated topic of becoming good digital citizens, knowledgeable about their responsibilities in an Internet world.

"I just learned that New York City doesn’t actually have alleys. Okay, they have a few private alleys. However, after listening to the latest 99% Invisible podcast, I learned that the idea of alleys throughout NYC is a bit of a myth. Does this matter? Probably not. But it’s what I love about podcasts. I love the surprise of learning random historical facts on Hardcore History or rethinking creativity from 99% Invisible. In other words, I love geeking out.

But it’s more than that. My favorite podcasts push my thinking and help me see things from a new perspective. I discover new frameworks and blueprints. They can be purely geeky or imminently practical.

As a former teacher and current professor, I’ve spent years having students create podcasts. While the platforms and audiences have evolved, I love the idea of students sharing their voice with an audience."

If you teach social studies and you're looking for a new project to engage your students this year, I have some suggestions for you...

Incorporate broadcasting projects into your curriculum to help engage students while deepening their STEM knowledge and understanding.

Projects can enhance the curriculum that you teach, encourage logical thinking skills and promote cross-curricular links. Pupils work in a similar style to how they would in the workplace, collaborating with their peers and supporting one another.

The easiest way for beginners to get started with Arduino is by creating circuits using a solderless breadboard.  These simple projects will teach you the basics of Arduino Uno, electronics and programming.   In this tutorial, you will be creating circuits using the following electronic components:

Got bored kids? Get their brains working with these fun and simple science projects!

ALA’s Teen Tech Week will be upon us before we know it (March 5-11).  To help get ready for this event, I’ve written a post for Demco Ideas with 5 makerspace project ideas to tie in with this year’s theme, “Be the Source of Change”.  It was hard to limit it to just five ideas, so each one has examples of several different variations on the project.

On math worksheets, numbers are usually neat and tidy. In the real world, not so much. Whether it’s polling data, analysis of investment options or calculations for timed traffic lights, real-world math can be messy. “If you give those kinds of numbers in homework you’re a mean teacher,” said teacher Victor Hernández. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to worry about that complaint much. Hernández works at Science Leadership Academy, a public magnet school in Philadelphia, where students gather and apply real data to hands-on projects throughout the curriculum. In January, Hernández and two colleagues shared some of the benefits of project-based learning with math teachers attending EduCon 2020, SLA’s annual school innovation conference.

Explore Heather Lister's board "Low-Tech, No-Tech Makerspaces", followed by 545 people on Pinterest. See more ideas about Crafts, Experiments kids and Classroom.


Maker education (often referred to as “Maker Ed”) is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum External link  and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom. A makerspace isn't just about the tools and equipment, but the sort of learning experience the space provides to students who are making projects.

If you teach social studies and you're looking for a new project to engage your students this year, I have some suggestions for you...

How do you learn to make? By making! Whether you're a newbie or an experienced maker attempting something new, it helps to practice basic skills before starting your own original projects. Our hands-on workshops from the world's top makers will prepare you to hack, tweak and build whatever you dream up.

• Easy Electronics
• How to Use a Breadboard
• Capturing Your Project

The maker movement is gaining steam in classrooms across the country. Why? Maker projects are massive cross-curricular opportunities that allow kids to explore the curriculum using their hands instead of staring at a whiteboard — and that’s something that keeps event the wiggliest of students engaged.

The beauty of maker projects is that they can take on many different forms, from crafting with scissors and paper to engineering with robotics. But all good maker projects still need direction. Ensure your maker lesson plans have these eight elements.

Yes – budget friendly and makerspace can happen in the same sentence.  A common misconception about makerspaces is that you have to spend a lot of money to give your students creative, hands-on learning.  But you can absolutely do a lot of makerspace projects with little to no money.  It might not be as easy as buying some fancy ready made kit, but it’s definitely rewarding.