Creation and using technology to do so was a huge theme throughout the entire conference. The very next day I received my copy of Tech & Learning (see picture of cover above) highlighting the "Maker Movement". This quote from Sylvia Martinez sums The Maker Movement up well.
It's a global technological and creative revolution. Some very smart people are predicting that the tools and technology of the Maker Movement will revolutionize the way we produce, market and sell goods across the world, just print it out! Better yet, design it yourself and then print it out. Something this epic should be on ever educator's radar.
The rest of the article is worth a quick read and is located here: Meet the Makers article. Some practices from the Maker Movement that relate to our classrooms are: learning by doing, problem solving or giving it a go, and encouraging a do it yourself attitude (Martinez, 2013).
In addition to the above practices, the Maker Movement can be thought of as an integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The key word here is integration!
Along the same lines,computer programming or coding is a huge field where good workers are needed. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2020, the U.S. will create 1.4 million jobs in computer science related fields. If current trends continue, U.S. citizens with the necessary skills and experience will fill only 30% of these jobs." Check out this one minute video by code.org for more: Anybody Can Learn to Code.
Coding for our little ones would be a great math extension. Here is a list of apps to learn coding (read- problem solving and computation practice!) on the iPad. This list is also located on the "Apps for iPad" page on my blog. Additionally, I am ordering a kit called Makey Makey developed at the Kindergarten Lab at MIT. The short video below is well worth checking out! If you have feedback on any of this, add a comment or let me know!
