How can 3D printing change the way we think about education?
This past year I was able to see a 3D printer in the classroom and the process and purpose behind it. Having this real perspective of the potential of a 3D printer has made me think a lot about what this will mean for the future of education. The most important being more possibilities- perhaps ones we haven’t even thought of yet.
It is exciting for me to see a tool such as the 3D printer in the classroom because of all the uses we will begin to discover by using it. Tech insider noted its uses ranging from a chip bag clip to replacing a piece on your headphones to a combination lock (Eadicicco, 2015). Life as we know it is changing with the invention of the 3D printer. If the way we live and how long we live is going to drastically change, then the possibilities seem endless when it comes to education (Federico-O'Murchu, 2014). Biology can take a more physical approach and print the actual object being studied. Learning about the flow of blood through the body? Elementary kids could learn how to print an actual heart and see a physical representation of what they are learning. 3D printing could allow physics in high school to build replicas of bridges, cars, or light sources to better understand force or electricity. Of course this is all in the far future. As mentioned before, this year I was able to see it in action and there is a lot of potential right now for this tool in the classroom. It brings excitement and curiosity to the classroom. I saw students gain a deeper understanding of the technological world as they watched this machine transform their computer prototype into a real tangible object. Students can take a unit further by creating a 3D object instead of the traditional cardboard, recycled materials, drawings, or paintings. Teachers can assign more open-ended projects or put students to the test by asking them to solve real world problems (Kane, 2017). My research on this week’s question to me to video after video and below are a few quite intriguing uses of 3D printing.
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In education we seek any opportunity, strategy, or concept that teaches beyond its main objective. Anything that reaches the targeted audience and can teach useful life skills or be cross-curricular is typically a win-win in any situation. This week, I was extra focused on finding the cons for teaching coding because my experience has all been based around the pros of it.
The reasons for coding could go on and on. The most important ones, in my opinion, is that it teaches life skills that are needed for any subject. These skills are:
Teaching computer science allows students to, “Learn creative expression, principles of problem solving and logic, collaboration, and communication with peers through computation (Williams, 2016).” Teaching coding is not just so that students can be more inclined to pursue a computer science career, but rather to gain deeper skills by using the technology we have available today. Even if coding becomes outdated by the time they reach the workforce, they will have learned the basics of computer science just like they do with math, writing, and reading. It’s not an argument that coding is the future for our kids and it will be relevant in their lives as they grow up. However, is the intensity surrounding coding necessary? Do our children really need to be forced to learn to code now that software and apps are taking over our daily habits? The article Should We Really Try to Teach Everyone to Code?, questions whether coding will be relevant in the near future and if that is what we should teach our students. It suggests that we should be automatizing the coding industry by making it more fluid, stream-line, and efficient by essentially eliminating the idea of coding (Gottfried, Sehringer). Technology is constantly improving and though coding is how we create and develop software, does this necessarily mean it will be what we use in 5, 10, or 20 years? This argument against the hype surrounding coding is that we are teaching outdated technology when we should be teaching more progressive ideas. Other articles in opposition merely state that teaching coding at a young age is simply pointless. Terri Williams argues that 1) children shouldn’t be expected to be career ready or prepared and we should just let them think and create innovatively without expectations. And 2) coding will become outdated by the time young children are in the work force (Williams, 2016). He also quotes another researcher who said, “Taylor argues that learning to code at a young age isn’t the key to success. “What will make kids successful in this tech-driven world is whether they can think – creatively, innovatively, and expansively – and that is accomplished through free, unstructured play (Williams, 2016).” Studies won’t be able to show whether fully incorporating coding for every age will improve the next generation’s future, or not. It won’t show whether the hype around coding was worth the investment. However, we do know that students enjoy coding and that it has taught a lot of relevant skills that apply today and in the future. Computer science will only improve and advance with time and it is our duty that we are teaching these skills and not those from 20 years ago. Coding, like all things, needs a balance and purpose. Being fully against coding seems idealistic, and being completely engrossed in coding will shadow other important skills. Balance and logic is key. Sources: Gottfried, Sehringer. Date N/A. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/insights/2015/02/should-we-really-try-to-teach-everyone-to-code/ Harrell, 2015. Add Coding to Your Elementary Curriculum.. Right Now. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/add-coding-elementary-curriculum-now-matt-harrell Williams, Terri. 2016. Teaching kids to code- is it a bad idea? Retrieved from https://www.goodcall.com/news/teach-kids-to-code-09226 Since this week I have been brainstorming many different tools that would help improve my student’s learning and my teaching strategies. A lot of the ideas I think of I have to ask myself if this has already been created or in the works. Turns out, if one Googles an idea, it most likely has already been thought of and being trialed somewhere around the World. My idea is a little farfetched as it used holograms to communicate between home and school.
Other ideas I read about were wristbands (like watches) that students wear to collect all types of data in blogs such as Andrea’s and Brandy’s. They are great ideas in thought, but what would the consequences of such intricate tracking bring? Too invasive? Create a sense of lack of control? Could we be micromanaging our students too much? I know I am the type of learner that needs frequent breaks. I need to get up and move around- walk away from the learning environment for a minute. As an elementary student, my teachers may have thought I was neglecting my work when in reality I was refreshing my brain. Could tracking devices start to get in the way of student’s freedom? These are ideas I suggested in Brandy’s blog. I also offered suggestions to Erica about her wrist wearing device that would also collect data. She would then go back and analyze the data to create better learning environments in her classroom. I asked if this were to be a real tool, would she have enough time in her day to look at this data and make the best decisions? Or, would a device that could also run an analysis and find the best matches/strategies be more useful to a teacher? Again, when does the IoT become too much and debilitating? Before this week I had never heard of the internet of things. After putting time and research into this concept, I can’t say I love it or dislike it. I am fearful that the ease of use it brings to education will eliminate the importance of a teacher and/or put limitations and restrictions on our students. In the digital age, if there is one thing I have seen it is that many negatives can arise when technology makes life more easy and simple. The rise of the internet of things will be interesting to see what becomes more efficient and what positive and negative changes come from this. Week 5: Design a device using the internet of thingsIn my pursuit to design a IoT device that can benefit my classroom, the hardest part was thinking of something that hasn’t already been created. I began to think of the hardest issues I have in the education world. The first that came to mind was school-home connection. My top 15% kids who succeed in school are the ones who also (typically) have involved parents. It is the 85% that I want to reach. Luckily these days, 90% of millennials are on social media and are becoming the parents of the students I teach (Parent Today, 2016). This is a statistic educators should be taking advantage of.
I am well aware that children who have a more challenging school to home connection or lack of parent involvement experience this for many different reasons. Many parents work late hours, raise many young children, or lack the ability to help with academics. Social-media and digital communication is the bridge between this gap. “As the Millennial Generation comes of parenting-age and joins the ranks of the Generation X parents, teachers are increasingly turning to digital tools to connect with today’s technologically savvy parents (Parent Today, 2016).” The internet of things allows data collection and diagnostics in order to perform with the most efficiency. My idea would allow the lessons taught during the day to be synthesized and in student language for the evening. It would come as a small device that is attached to a backpack (or anything regularly going home). This device would automatically listen to the subjects taught in the day and search the internet for key words that come up. Then, these main ideas/topics will be stored in the cloud so that when a student goes home they can easily access all material that was covered (in age appropriate content). Then the question arises, how does this hold accountability-- the main issue? Any family with tough evening hours would agree that in order for any such device to be effective, it needs to be efficient and user friendly. With that in mind, the device would become very futuristic using technology like holograms. Even if a parent is not at home to help with homework, the “teacher” hologram could help support the student’s home learning. In the article, 8 Classroom Uses for Holographic Technology, it says holograms could extend teacher reach. Instructors could deliver lessons and lectures to multiple classrooms, across the globe, simultaneously (ISTE connects, 2015). Holograms are the future of education and are based on the mixed reality concept. “Mixed reality literally allows for the real and digital worlds to be combined, and with holograms you can almost feel the science at your fingertips,” he explains. “This is absolutely a revolutionary way to transfer information and enable collaborative work. It makes the process of learning clearer, more interactive, and more interesting; therefore, more effective (Bonasio, 2016).” My other problem is that some parents are incredibly hard to reach. These parents are the ones that need to be the most involved in their child’s education. The school to home device could act as a message recorder as well. Any information that I need to relay could be sent home on that device, and any questions or concerns the parent has could be sent to school in that form-- all they need to do is talk into it. I could also track from my computer the amount of home usage, whether parents are using/listening to it, and the diagnostics would help show how I could better support my student. Bonasio, Alice. 2016. Making Holograms in the Classroom a Reality. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/3150963/education/making-holograms-in-the-classroom-a-reality.html ISTE Connects. 2015. 8 Classroom Uses for Holographic Technology. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=271. Parent Today. 2016. Keeping connected in today’s classroom: Teachers utilizing digital tools to better communicate with parents. Retrieved from http://www.parenttoday.org/keeping-connected-in-todays-classroom-teachers-utilizing-digital-tools-to-better-communicate-with-parents/ Week 4: What is the pedagogy behind a MakerSpace? What are the benefits of this pedagogy to students?The lingo around Maker Space has been growing ever rapidly. This past year I was able to experience a Makerspace session and then heard about it frequently. However, never once did I ever ask myself, what is the importance of Makerspace? It sounded so great from the start that I didn’t take the time to analyze it for myself.
It didn’t take long for my opinion to become validated after reading various articles this week. As put by the article, What’s the Maker Movement and Why Should I Care? She says, “her experiences constantly remind her that children are capable of powerful ideas. One student said the time spent in Maker Space helps us understand what we are capable of (Stager, 2014).” The education in 2017 focuses on how can we get our students to take ownership and accountability of their own education? Maker Space promotes this philosophy with every project or idea (Stager, 2014). With all the micro-controllers and Maker’s Space technology around, I can’t help but feel a little intimidated. I am realizing that if I feel like this then my students will be feeling the same way too. This inspires me to familiarize myself as much as possible so that I can teach my students with confidence. The article, Learning with Arduino and Microcontrollers, only tapped into this a little bit. It helped me see the potential of these technologies such as, “flying through the air in drones, rolling around the floor in giant R2-D2's, even powering a four foot tall LED grid (Patterson, 2016)” Yet, the question still remains-- how can I do this in my classroom? My research continued to reading more about implementing these technologies in the classroom. First and foremost, the environment plays the key role in whether Maker’s Space is a success or not. As quoted by an Edutopia article, “They'll (students) thrive in spaces that perpetually rekindle their desire to make meaningful contributions toward personally relevant issues, ideas, people and interests (West-Pucket, 2013).” Teachers should foster the environment they want their students to emulate. The next important point I found was to make it solely interests-based. Just like any curriculum we put on our students, if they find little interest in the topic they won’t internalize it. Keeping Maker’s Space choice driven and geared towards what they are interested in will make the learning meaningful. Circling back to the main question, what are the benefits of this pedagogy? Relevance, desire, and intrinsic motivation, are just a few experiencers during a Maker’s Space for many students. The benefits, as many educators would see, are that students finally come to school gaining knowledge through their own discovery and creations. Patterson, S. 2016. Learning with Arduino and Microcontrollers. Retrieved from http://www.teachercast.net/2016/03/01/learning-with-arduino-and-microcontrollers/ Stager, G. 2014. What’s the Maker Movement and Why Should I Care? Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3758336 West-Puckett, S. 2013. Remaking Education: Designing Classroom Makerspaces for Transformative Learning. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-makerspaces-transformative-learning-stephanie-west-puckett Week 3 Reflection This week was extra exciting for me because I love finding an emerging idea and think of ways I can incorporate it into my classroom. Genius hour was something I have read a lot about, but pushed to the side during my first year. Reading about it again inspires me to tackle this idea this fall with more confidence.
Andrea posted a great video about 2nd graders talking about their genius hour experience-- very inspiring! I know that this idea will take off in my classroom and the amount of natural learning will be worth every ounce of energy on my end. I think genius hour would be especially meaningful if students start reaching out to community members and taking their project outside of the classroom. Erica talked about this idea in her blog saying that, “Students learn that they can glean and synthesize information from a variety of sources, and they develop the autonomy to go out and search for those sources.” As Erica eloquently put, our goal as educators is to create experiences that, “go beyond education.” Genius hour is the pinnacle of this movement, and in my eyes should be a constant goal every day with every lesson. Week 3 I have heard of both MOOC and Genius hour, so I began my research with flipped classroom. The idea is that more independent learning elements (reading a chapter book, learning a simple math concept) should happen outside during homework time in order to leave more interactive learning for the classroom time. This sounds great-- but for an older crowd. I felt like doing this with elementary students would leave many lost and behind. My research took me to looking more into genius hour-- a very doable option for my 2nd graders. It is exactly as it sounds. It’s a block of time dedicated to giving students the chance to explore anything that interests them (genius hour). The first question I had was, how do I start this with my 2nd graders? A lot of blogs mentioned showing the teacher’s passion first, or just giving students time to build something with no restrictions. This way, students get the idea that genius hour is meant for creating/developing. Managing genius hour can take the form of using a website/blog to track students progress, folders, or a class bulletin board. In many classes, genius hour looks like, “Genius Hour is Tu/Th for 30 minutes each day w/ time to research, create, and make. Students on computers, looking at books, and using building supplies” and “organized chaos (Genius hour in primary grades).” My only concern is how do you engage students who just do NOT want to participate in genius hour? None of the research I did answered this question so I know this will be a trial and error part of genius hour. Genius hour allows students to experience a unique learning environment that is rare in a public school setting. For 2nd graders, I would limit it to 30 minutes and do some modeling with them beforehand. Once students get the gist of all the possibilities, I could see how productive this emerging pedagogy would be. Genius hour in primary grades. Retrieved from http://www.geniushourguide.org/genius-hour-in-the-primary-classroom/ Genius hour. Retrieved from http://www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/ |