| NSF Org: |
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 17, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 17, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1623431 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Amy Wilson
amywilso@nsf.gov (703)292-2606 DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2016 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $300,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $300,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4200 FIFTH AVENUE PITTSBURGH PA US 15260-0001 (412)624-7400 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
PA US 15213-2303 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| NSF Program(s): | ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The beginning of the 21st century saw the rise of Maker Spaces or informal community workshops where people of all ages engage in a variety of creative design and fabrication activities with materials and equipment that would otherwise be out of reach for the average person. The grass roots nature of the Maker movement reflects the general public's strong interest and engagement in informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning activities. Given its power to engage learners, K-12 educators and school leaders are considering how the Maker Movement might be integrated into formal school settings. Yet, integration is challenging because some of the very characteristics that make Maker spaces successful are problematic in formal education settings, such as voluntary versus compulsory participation, grades, and the structure of schooling into discrete content areas. Research that uncovers tangible ways to successfully integrate Making into schools has the potential to foster teacher and student learning, and to inspire students to strive toward STEM careers. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program that supports projects that build understandings of best practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to engaging students in learning and developing interest in STEM, information and communications technology, computer science, and related STEM content and careers.
This research project uses case study methodology to articulate how the Elizabeth Forward School District (EFSD) integrates the Maker movement into its secondary schools. Serving a semi-rural community in the Pittsburgh area, EFSD has given the area's historic "maker" roots of heavy industry and manufacturing a 21st century twist. For example, since 2013 EFSD has used a variety of Making tools and approaches to promote a project-based curriculum that integrates art, technology education, and computer science at the middle school level. In its high school the district has used FAB Lab, which houses digital fabrication technology, such as laser cutters, 3D printers, and various 2D and 3D software applications. Using mixed methods (i.e., interviews, surveys, observations and student work), Year 1 of the project articulates and tracks EFSD's internal efforts and processes, and collaborations with various external partners. Year 2 of the project focuses on specific teacher and student outcomes while also making comparisons to historical data and to comparable districts that do not incorporate Making. Intellectually, the project is important because it examines the intersection of formal and informal learning environments. For example it explores how introducing Maker activities into formal STEM education impacts teacher practice, student engagement and learning, and community involvement. It also offers insight into whether and how the essence of Making is modified by its inclusion into formal settings. In practical terms, the research will offer other school districts a timely example of the rewards and challenges involved in Maker integration.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Making Success!
A school district creates success in integrating Maker experiences for students.
Educators, researchers, and policy makers have initiated countless efforts to improve U.S. innovation and workforce development in STEM. Even so, U.S. schools are perceived to be generally in need of improvement, particularly in the area of STEM learning and career and college readiness.
The Maker Movement has taken hold of our innovative and creative energies in education, pressing us to question entrenched beliefs and assumptions, and pushing us to embrace the edge of creativity often defined by the unknown and emergent. Springing up across the nation, the Maker Movement often eschews the archaic and intransient structures of formal education, often locating initiatives in informal and ancillary spaces. No wonder! The culture of the Maker Movement is all about vitality and agility, responding to emergent needs and developed resources that can coalesce and support focused creativity toward production. Schools, steeped in traditional structures and antiquated procedures and policies, are often the antithesis of the energy and drive of the Maker Movement.
Not so in all cases. Southwestern Pennsylvania has been noted as an especially rich and diverse context for the Maker Movement. The region?s historical fiber is about ?making? --- bringing forth new thinking, innovation, discovery, new technologies, and supporting creativity. The past saw those characteristics forged in the heat and grit of steel-making furnaces and associated technologies. Today, the area is being reborn to a new generation of making and innovation fueled by creativity, edges of technology, yet fueled by the same ?roll-up-your sleeves? hard work ethic of ?doing? that has been a part of the region from days gone by.
Over the last seven years, Elizabeth Forward School District (EFSD), a typical blue-collar rust belt district that was once in the center of the historic ?maker? region of heavy industry and manufacturing of southwestern Pennsylvania, has embraced the Maker Movement, coupling key tenants with additional related innovations --- gamification, embraced personal technology among teachers and students resulting in 1:1 access, embodied learning, and educational tech integration --- to create a new learning culture predicated on the essence of the Maker Movement: welcoming risk and innovation as the frontier of deep learning. Elizabeth Forward has become a Maker Mecca in the formal P-12 educational landscape. Visitors have travelled from local schools and other states and countries. What draws them is not just the Maker Movement, but how the maker culture has been integrated into a working formal education structure, and resulted in increased student engagement and learning. All of this, as some would note, in a community that is steeped in traditional values, expectations, and assumptions about education that might otherwise portend the failure of innovations on the edge of formal programs.
So, what?s the story? What does success look like? How has this happened? What factors have made for success? What can we learn from this home-grown effort that may help us extend the reach and promise of not only the Maker Movement, but additional, related innovations, in a typically non-embracing public education system.
A two-year case study, supported by the National Science Foundation, through the University of Pittsburgh School of Education?s Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity (CEAC) captured the Making Success story, pointing to these critical building blocks:
- Innovative Practices
- Continuity of Leadership and Staff
- Commitment to Facility Renovation
- Curriculum Revision and Development
- Collaboration to Build Expertise
- Community Support and Partners
Some examples of Making Success findings:
- Students report that they enjoy school more, pay better attention in class, work harder, and attend more consistently in ?maker? environments.
- Teachers focus on designing, building, and sharing as the foundation of student experiences, especially in ?maker? classes, but even beyond that, into more traditional courses.
- School leaders work together with board members, community members, teachers, and experts in the field to create ?schools that learn? as they build and extend ?maker? courses and spaces to support student learning.
Last Modified: 10/25/2018
Modified by: Cynthia A Tananis
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