Page 20 - FIS World December 2020

Maker Learning
A transformative shift in school culture
Design Technology faculty and staff members putting into practice lessons learned during the Maker Learning workshop
Maker Learning is a way of experiencing educational content and subjects through the context of making, designing, fabricating and
constructing. Stemming from the Piagetian idea of “learn by doing,” Maker Learning allows students to construct tangible artifacts of learning while also constructing mental models and cognitive associations to previous experiences. It’s the perfect blend of connections between subject matter and
skill development.
In October this year, nearly 30 FIS faculty and staff members from across campuses and grade levels participated in a four-day professional development on Maker Learning, facilitated by Mark Barnett who
Zoomed in for the sessions from Thailand. “We were prepared to run an in-person workshop with all par- ticipants in one space,” said FIS Assistant Head of School, Dr. Michael Johnston.“But Covid-19 changed all of that. We considered a multi-location workshop for smaller numbers to protect the integrity of divi- sional and campus bubbles, or a maker workshop in 28 different sites from the homes of all the educators involved, but eventually set up asynchronous and synchronous sessions to maximize hands-on making, reflection and implementation. It worked brilliantly.”
During the workshop, participants were tasked with a wide variety of maker-based activities, from constructing with cardboard and building circuits,
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