I’ve been asked by my principal to head up a team who will develop a makerspace at the TES high school. In addition to being an exciting opportunity for me to do something a little different to the usual in Computing, it aligns really well with my plans for my research.
The initial plans are for students in years 7 to 9 (ages 11 to 14) to do one term-long project per year, on a rotation so we can accommodate all classes. There are very few limitations or expectations set in stone at the moment other than it shouldn’t be something that could easily fall into a regular subject, and should involve some form of systematic thinking or design development process to actually make something.
This is a potentially perfect testbed for investigating reception of constructionist pedagogy, as all (middle school) students will participate, I have some control over the nature and delivery of the curriculum, and I can include a significant TEL component to encourage personalised learning.
