Maker Education for Teachers Who Just Don't Feel the Love

When you hear “maker movement,” do you have visions of children shrieking while swinging from the fluorescent chandeliers? Do you get hives thinking about the lack of structure? Do you fail to see what all the fuss is about? If the maker movement has you feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or doubtful, here are some considerations for you.

Rationale & Reality

Maker activities are designed to encourage communication, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork among students, without having a specific step-by-step single route to one possible solution.
By design, these experiences are inefficient, because mistakes are a given during the process. This can lead to frustration and poor communication between students, and it can result in a failure to reach a solution in the time provided. That can be difficult for kids (and adults), so it might seem easier to avoid the whole thing.

Avoidance can’t be the answer. We don’t avoid teaching kids to walk or ride bikes even though we know they will inevitably fall and get injured. We understand the goal is worthwhile enough to struggle through the bumps and bruises. Facing creative problem-solving is similarly worthwhile. In case I’m losing some doubtful readers who are thinking “no real-world scenario requires you to build the tallest possible tower from Legos,” you are correct. But no real-world scenario ever requires you to fill out 30 multiplication problems, either – it’s practice for more complex thinking. The Lego tower is the same, except it is building multiple intellectual skills at the same time, instead of one specific academic skill.

The purpose of maker education, then, is to give students opportunities to practice the following:

• Self-directed learning
• Creative thinking skills
• Construction, creation, innovation
• Analysis of effective/ineffective solutions
• Prioritizing
• Time Management
• Experimentation
• Revision/improvement
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Presentation
• Confidence
  

 
Additionally, students acquire skills from work with specific materials, which might include coding, spatial awareness, engineering, visual and performing arts, multi-media creation, and more.
 
That’s a lot of bang for an instructional buck.

Still, here are some worries and objections I’ve heard educators pose with regard to maker activities. Let’s take a minute to unpack these concerns.

"Maker activities are too loud and hard to manage"

It is louder than some class lessons. There’s really no way around that. But you can teach appropriate processes for the activities, just as you would for getting out math manipulatives or going out for recess. You are going to have some bumps in management at first, but you can refine those things, just as you refine your reading and math instruction to make it more effective.

Here are a few starting guidelines you and your students are free to borrow, adapt, and try for maker activities:

• Groups stay at their own learning stations during the maker challenge time
• Every group member participates in the construction and the decisions
• Group roles are optional – clock watcher, task director (priority programmer), positive mindset promoter, materials manager, what-if wonderer
• Group members speak respectfully to each other at all times
• Use materials safely, clean up thoroughly, and save unused materials in good condition
• Groups may photograph their final products, but may not be able to keep them

 
Another way to keep it manageable at first is to have a small number of items for students to work with, because it’s not so time-consuming to pass out, set up, or collect afterward. As you all become accustomed to procedures, you can try challenges with a wider range of materials.

“Maker Education sounds nice, but there’s not enough time.”

There’s not enough time to allow students to face an open-ended problem in a safe environment and have them use multiple strategies and then compare the effectiveness and methods of their different solutions? Because that whole process sounds like excellent math and science instruction. On top of that, students get practice communicating with each other while they work (a critical skill), and when they present (also important). In fact, scroll up and read the list of all those skills again. When you think about it, if you are going to use your precious instructional minutes for any single activity, this is a valuable use of time.

I want to fully acknowledge the challenge of time, too, because most educators are asked to do far too many things each day, and often feel they come up short. It’s difficult to voluntarily add more to your plate when it’s been loaded by too many obligations you didn’t select in the first place.

I recommend you take one worksheet or activity you know is not working for your students, and replace that with one maker activity. Just one, at first. See what happens. See what the students like about it, and how it might be easier than you expected, and how you could improve it if you did it again later. Then try it again later. You don’t have to overhaul everything at the same time – just make small changes. They’ll take you where you want to go.

“It’s not on the test, so why should I bother?”

This one hurts. There are so many meaningful things that aren’t on that test, including love, kindness, empathy, integrity, health, and innovation. Just because no one has figured out a standardized way to measure something doesn’t make it less important. In five or ten or twenty years, that child’s ability to empathize and innovate will matter far more than a test score. Although there can be a lot of pressure for students to earn ever-rising test scores, professional educators cannot be driven by testing to make every instructional decision. Make time for what's important. Bother because you know it matters.

“I don’t know how to use the materials myself.”

This can feel really scary at first, but it can actually be the easiest worry to overcome. Trust that the students will figure something out – they always do, if we give them enough time, because it's human nature to create. In fact, it’s eye-opening when you realize how much students can do that never occurred to you to try. When you do maker activities, adopt a mindset that the students are in charge of the solutions. If they ask you how to solve the task, look at them and say, “There are many possible solutions. How will you approach this?” It’s okay if you yourself aren’t sure of a solution, because you will be less likely to guide them toward one single approach. Keep out of it and trust the students to figure things out.

If students don’t figure things out during a given session, that’s okay, too. This is the essence of exploration – it doesn’t work the way you expect. Reflect about what they expected to happen, what actually happened, and what they might try next time. This reflection is a powerful part of the process – more important than a successful product in a given task – because it informs future approaches to collaborative challenges.
 
If you are using expensive materials like robots or virtual reality devices, you might ease the apprehension about not being an expert by inviting another teacher to co-teach a lesson with you. This could be the instructional technology coach, TAG teacher, or librarian. If any equipment starts to act in unexpected ways, this gives the students (and you) more help get the activity back on track. Maintain the “keep out of it” mindset, but you have an expert on hand to troubleshoot any malfunctions that pop up, if necessary.

“I don’t have a budget or materials.”

You can do maker activities with paper and tape. If you can add in paper cups, string, index cards, and toothpicks, you exponentially add to the possibilities. You don’t have to start with robotics, but you’ll be a lot less likely to ever try robotics if you don’t start somewhere. Let it be small at first. Baby steps are good, if you’re traveling in the direction you want to go.



For more ideas about incorporating maker education and purposeful technology in your classroom, see Easy Enrichment Ideas, including resources for the Hour of Code, DI's instant Challenges, and more.