The Maker Movement in Education
The Raspberry Pi computer is an amazing tool to help students become “makers”. You may have heard of the “maker movement” and its gaining popularity in schools. Put simply, a maker is someone who uses their head, hands, and heart to create something meaningful. This something could be as simple as a traditional art project to a product as complex and esoteric as a heat-sensing, motion-controlled cat food dispenser! The product really does not matter. What does matter is the process the participant goes through to make the product (or a prototype of a product) and the thinking, problem-sovling, and resilience needed to be successful. The maker movement aims to tap into young people’s natural inclination to use their head, hands, and heart to learn, while embracing the idea of “learning by doing”.
The educational underpinnings influencing the maker movement can be found in two similar sounding theories of learning - constructivism and constructionism. Constructivism is the idea that a learner constructs knowledge, individually and socially, through the process of making connections between prior knowledge and new ideas. It’s primary focus is on how a learner forms new “models” of information in their head.2 Constructionism is an extension of this idea with a focus on the physical world. It states learning is a student-centered process where the learner obtains new knowledge by building physical models in the real world and using those objects to make connections with prior knowledge. This is often accomplished through a tangible product, i.e a computer, a scale model, or a piece of artwork.3
The Raspberry Pi computer is a perfect fit for the maker movement and its associated learning theories. It is accessible to young learners, while still providing enough challenge to embrace learners at all levels. It encourages the construction of both mental and physical models, namely through computer programming/coding and the construction of electronic circuits. Furthermore, rather than hiding away the details and discouraging exploration as found in traditional desktop/laptop/tablet/smartphone computers, the designers of the Raspberry Pi computer chose to present the user with an exposed, single board computer where the complexity is demystified, the learner is encouraged to figure out how the system works, and experimenting with the electronics of the computer is not only permitted, but is intentional designed to be accessible to curious learners.
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