Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, And Engineering In The Classroom (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Stager and Martinez do a wonderful job of delivering a brief history of constructivist and progressive thinking in education and then relates that thinking to the Maker movement. Whether children are making things with cardboard and duct tape or creating a computer code that lights up a circuit board, learning by hypothesizing, planning, problem solving, collaborating and tinkering is the best way for children to have "aha" moments. The authors give a lot of practical advice for teachers who want to move their practice into this student-centered, inquiry based place. A good survey and history of the maker movement. You soon start asking yourself if anything didn't originate in the MIT Media Lab... I like much of this, but found the contempt for any other form of learning a bit one-sided and limited: it grated. Other methods of education are only presented in straw-man versions. The case for a maker-space at home and school is well constructed and there are excellent links and ideas. I love the idea of the wearable and washable arduino boards you can sew into your own clothes and programme.
What do You think about Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, And Engineering In The Classroom (2013)?
Great books for educators who are looking at the idea of Fab Labs. Very good reference as well.
—Deb
Perfect for guiding a school into the maker movement.
—bryankey
