Full Description
Traditionally, teachers have emphasized language literacy in primary and secondary schooling and particularly in early childhood years. For this reason, significant immersion in 'content areas' such as science, social studies, and world languages, is typically delayed. In a makerspace setting, the emphasis is on students developing empowering problem solving and communication skills, entering a creative flow state, and engaging with productive struggle.
Bridget Looney presents maker pedagogy as a transdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that does not emphasize one discipline over the other, or require a separate course, classroom, or discipline of its own. Instead, it embraces natural child development and the ways in which children make sense and interact with the world around them, whether it be in the classroom, outdoors, or at home. Looney discusses thinking and learning in makerspaces, drawing on empirical research to showcase how K-12 teachers have implemented maker pedagogy, examining instances of successful and unsuccessful schoolwide integration.
Maker pedagogy's focus on democratic participation, equity, and empowerment extends to school leadership where it calls upon teachers, students, and those in formal school leadership roles to examine and develop school policies and practices together.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: Understanding Maker Pedagogy: Foundations and Context
Chapter 1. What is a Makerspace and how can it Serve as a Classroom?
Chapter 2. How is Maker Pedagogy a Timely Paradigm for Teaching and Learning?
Part II: Introducing Maker Pedagogy into the Classroom in Small and Big Ways: The Stories of Mary, Sandra, and Eli
Chapter 3. Mary's Story
Chapter 4. Sandra's Story
Chapter 5. Eli's Story
Part III: Integrating Maker Pedagogy Throughout the School
Chapter 6. The Challenge of Bringing Maker Pedagogy to Scale in Schools
