blog 6 - Maker movement, Constructionism & Micor:bit - Task 2

Although making is a fundamental human activity, the development of fabrication and communication technologies has inspired the so-called maker movement(Schad & Jones, 2020). It expands the reach of DIY cultural movement to cover a bigger group of individuals committed to designing and producing items, both physical and digital.

The integration of maker activities into teaching will bring a lot of benefits, for example, students are more willing to learn, their problem-solving ability is exercised, and their cooperation ability can be trained. Just as Bevan (2017) said, when the teacher provides maker activities, students get to school on time and are less likely to be absent, bad behaviour is also reduced.

engaging with ctivities in tutorial week 7

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In order to better integrate the maker movement and constructionism into education, the new technology Micro:bit can be of great help. The Micro:bit is a tiny, programmable computer board designed for educational and DIY electronics projects, it has an LED light display, buttons, sensors and many input/output functions (Introducing the BBC Micro, n.d.)

By trying Micro:bit, students' creativity can be fostered in many ways. For example, its practical features allow students to experiment and verify their own ideas, which can well encourage creative design thinking. Also, it can be used for a wide range of areas, students can use it to explore and test any idea they have in any scope, and express their creativity freely. While fostering creativity, students also exercise their ability to collaborate and integrate each other's ideas.

“Most students commented positively on the ease of use and usefulness of Micro:bit.” (Kalogiannakis et al., 2021, p.3). Due to its accessibility, Micro:bit is well-suited for integration into the Stage 3 Science and Technology curriculum, as well as Stage 5 Design and technology, providing students with a comprehensive understanding of digital technologies through hands-on experience in programming and computational thinking(2807 | NSW Education Standards, n.d.). Students' engagement and understanding of the subject can be further enhanced by leveraging Micro:bit's capabilities.

experiencing Micro:bit in tutorial week 7

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However, as this technology requires a lot of parts and accessories to make it run, thus when using it, teachers need to give them out at the beginning of each lesson and then take them back again, which definitely adds a lot of work for teachers. Storage and care are also a concern(Sentance et al., 2017). And these accessories as consumables also pose a problem for the school's budgets.

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References

2807 | NSW Education Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 April 2023, from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning- areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus/content/2807

Bevan, B. (2017). The promise and the promises of Making in science education. Studies in Science Education, 53(1), 75–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2016.1275380

Introducing the BBC micro:bit. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 April 2023, from https://microbit.org/get- started/first-steps/introduction/

Kalogiannakis, M., Tzagaraki, E., & Papadakis, S. (2021). A Systematic Review of the Use of BBC Micro:bit in Primary School. Conference Proceedings. New Perspectives in S cience Education 2021. https://conference.pixel-online.net/library_scheda.php? id_abs=5036

Schad, M., & Jones, W. M. (2020). The Maker Movement and Education: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 52(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2019.1688739

Sentance, S., Waite, J., Yeomans, L., & MacLeod, E. (2017). Teaching with physical computing devices: The BBC micro:bit initiative. Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on Primary and Secondary Computing Education, 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1145/3137065.3137083