This document summarizes a presentation about making projects for real world audiences. It discusses the core values of empathy, audience, relevance, social aspects, reflection, iteration, and "hard fun". Examples of maker projects discussed include connected composting with an entrepreneurial approach, a game makers collaborative unit where students design board games, a video tour exchange between schools in different countries, and a high altitude balloon launch carrying student experiments. The presentation aims to provide opportunities for making across schools to increase engagement for students.

1. Making that Matters: Projects for the Real World and Real Audiences
Katie Cardemone
Alice Gentili
David Quinn
Mendon – Upton Regional School District
Slides & Other
Resources
http://wp.me/p6LC2a-gZ

2. Standing Survey
Skim the questions below and choose one to ask three ore more people in the
room who are not seated near you. Make a mental note of their answers and be
prepared to share:
• Which education authors / speakers have shaped your thinking about education
and/or maker education?
• What does Maker Ed look like in your classroom/school/district?
• What is the purpose of MakerEd in schools?
• What is the personal creation (besides your children) that brings you the most
pride?
• If we offered you a $10,000 grant to increase opportunities for MakerEd in your
classroom/school/district, how might you use it?

3. Source https://clalliance.org/why-connected-learning/
Our Why

4. Our Why

5. “Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such
a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.”--Dewey

6. “What the hand does, the mind remembers” –
Maria Montessori

7. “The maker movement is about making things that you care about, things that are meaningful to you and
others around you. Sometimes, it gets misapplied if we just get people creating something. That's part of it,
but to support rich, creative learning experiences, we need to provide people with opportunities to make
things in collaboration with others—and to make things they care about”. --Resnick
Image Source https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/meeting-prof-
mitch-resnick-father-scratch-ollie-bray/

8. Source https://clalliance.org/why-
connected-learning/

10. Global, Creative, and Entrepreneurial: Elements of a World Class Education
Student Autonomy: What Product-oriented Learning: How Global Campus: Where
Voice: Governance
and Environment
Choice: Broad and
Flexible Curriculum
Support:
Personalization and
Mentoring
Authentic Products:
Meaningful or Useful
Sustained &
Disciplined Process:
Drafts & Review
Strength-Based:
Unique and Local
Global Orientation:
International Partners
and Opportunities
Global Competence:
Foreign Languages
and Cultures
To what extent are
students involved in the
development of rules and
regulations in the school?
To what extent are
students involved in
selecting and evaluating
staff?
To what extent are
students involved in
decisions about courses
and other learning
opportunities the school
offers?
To what extent are
students involved in
decisions about
equipment, library books,
technology, or other similar
items?
How many different
courses, programs, and
activities are offered?
To what degree can
students construct their
own courses or programs?
To what degree can
students learn from outside
resources, either in the
local community or through
online arrangements?
To what degree does the
school provide resources
such as mini grants to
support student-initiated
activities such as clubs or
project teams?
To what degree can
students be excused from
externally imposed upon
standards and
assessments with good
reasons?
Does each student have an
adult advisor or coach?
To what degree can
students choose the adult
advisor or have the freedom
to change advisors?
To what degree are adults
available to talk and work
with students upon request?
To what degree are
students provided with
opportunities to work with
advisors from outside the
school?
Is there an infrastructure
for students to develop,
display, or market
products and services?
Are relevant policies that
govern student products,
for example, policies
regarding ownership of
the intellectual property of
student products, in
place?
What products and
services have students
created?
In what ways have
students’ products and
services been used?
To what degree are
students engaged in
product-oriented learning?
Or what percentage of
student activities is
product oriented?
Is there an established
process for reviewing
proposals and products?
Is there an established
process and protocol for
product improvement?
Is there an established
process to engage external
experts from the broad
community to participate in
proposal and product
review?
Are there established
criteria for products and
proposal review?
Does the school have
unique features that reflect
the local community
resources?
Does the school have
unique features that reflect
the strengths of its
teaching staff?
Does the school have an
established mechanism for
students and staff to
explore and express their
strengths?
Does the school stand out
in any other way?
How many international
partners does the school
have?
How frequently are
students engaged in
international activities?
To what degree are
students’ projects/products
oriented to global issues or
needs of people from other
countries?
To what extent does the
school utilize international
resources?
To what extent does the
school provide resources
to other countries?
Are there established
channels for frequent
international interactions
among students and staff?
How many foreign
languages are offered in
the school?
Can students learn a
language that is not offered
by the school staff?
What opportunities are
available for students to
engage in cross-cultural
interactions?
What opportunities are
available for students to
live or study in culturally
unfamiliar situations?
Adapted from Yong Zhao (2012) World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
©Yong Zhao 2012. All rights reserved. Contact Yong Zhao @ yongzhao.uo@gmail.com or http://zhaolearning.com
Source: Yong Zhao

11. Finding Flow: Csikszentmihalyi

12. Our MakerEd Core Values For Practice
• Empathy
• Audience
• Relevance
• Social
• Reflective
• Iterative
• Hard Fun

13. Connected Composting:
An Entrepreneurial Approach to Maker Ed

22. Game Makers Collaborative Unit
Explore
• Research board games
• Define constraints
• Group reflection,
discussion, ideation
Create
• Formulate plan
• Gather Materials
• Follow the plan for board
game and game pieces
Share
• Share with classmates
• Revise as needed
• Plan commercial
• Film commercial
• Family Game Night

23. Game
Boards
with
3D printed
game pieces

24. https://goo.gl/xJBfHt

26. Game design
and game board making

32. Video Tour Exchange: From Upton to San Sebastián

40. Stratosphere:
Students Launch a High Altitude Balloon with PongSat Experiments

48. Smaller Recent Projects

49. Connecting Students & Families Through Maker Mondays

50. Connecting The District Through the Marshmallow Challenge

53. Connecting Across Districts (& States!) Through Raspberry
Pioneers Project

56. Turn & Talk
Read the following questions below and discuss with the
person next to you.
• After this presentation what excites you about MakerEd
• After attending to this presentation what makes you nervous
about MakerEd?
• What ideas in this presentation would you like to hear more
about?
• What is one action step that you can take when you return
to school to increase opportunities for making for your
students?

57. Closing Thoughts

59. I want to avoid this dichotomy of
Rigor
&
Whimsy
Creative experiences require both. People neet to be able to have a playful
approach for experimenting, exploring, testing the boundaries, but also
systemic thinking to make progress on what they are working on…
Mitch Resnick http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/press/CHE-2017.pdf