by Dot Cannon

How can hands-on maker skills facilitate the sharing of historical facts, scientific principles, English concepts and more?

That was the focus of Saturday afternoon’s Edcamp: Maker Promise, a unique teachers’ “unconference” at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Around 1:00, educators began arriving and checking in for the 2018 California STEAM Symposium, scheduled for Sunday and Monday, October 28th and 29th.

And just down the hall, Edcamp: Maker Promise offered them an early opportunity to get hands-on skills and share resources.

Maker Promise is a collaboration between two national nonprofits, explained Josh Weisgrau during the Edcamp introduction.

Josh, pictured far right, is Program Director of Maker Learning for Digital Promise.  And his organization’s mission is to surmount the challenges facing teachers on a daily basis, through the use of technology and innovation.

to surmount the challenges facing teachers.  Their collaborator, Maker Ed, says  on their website that  a their goal is to “harness ihe power of making to transform teaching and learning”.

As attendees walked into Saturday’s Edcamp, an LED project awaited them: Circuit Arcade.   The tables were set up so that teachers from all grades and geographic areas could network and share ideas.

And everyone got to work, constructing circuits and switches while talking about the projects they had created with these materials in their classrooms in the past.

An innovators’ collaboration

Now, what exactly is an Edcamp?

“Edcamps are professional-development opportunities for educators, in the form of ‘unconferences’, ” explained Maria Romero of nonprofit Digital Promise.

“So, we are leveraging (your knowledge) in attempting to create the sessions and topics of today.”

Those sessions, Maria explained, wouldn’t be formal and would consist of discussions of topics of interest to the attendees themselves.  On the wall was a board, to which the teachers could contribute ideas for sessions.

“We still have room on the session board if anyone has anything they’d (like to suggest for discussion),” said Digital Promise’s Nick Schiner.

“Remember, you don’t have to lead the session.  And, there’s food and drink in the back.”

Edcamps, Maria said, are free and open to all educators.

“The sessions are participant-driven, so the sessions are driven by on you all, and based on what you want to learn and share with others,” she explained.

The ideas behind Edcamp: everyone has knowledge to share, but no one is an expert.  And a basic idea was “the rule of two feet”.

“So if you’re in a session (that’s not working for you), you’re more than welcome to get up…and pick a different one.”

Just before a  “Maker Learning Project Improv” icebreaker exercise, Dr. Jerry D. Valadez, CEO of Community Science Workshop Network, offered a preview of maker activities to come.

“We are anchoring the makerspace downstairs in the exhibit hall,” he said.  “We have about 5000 square feet of nothing but making over the next two days, (and) enough material for 1800 projects.  So, first come, first served.”

Then, participants headed for the sessions.

Educators pick: favorite online resources

The first afternoon session on which we sat in was “Free Web-Based Resources”.  The educators came up with a treasure trove of suggestions.

“(I use) Tinkercad for 3D design,” said a librarian from the Bay Area.  “You can 3D print (from there and it’s definitely more user-friendly).  SketchUp can be for the older kids.”

“Tinkercad, I absolutely love,” agreed a K-5 teacher from Sacramento.  “But we use Merge.  The object viewer’s a great way for kids to get that instant gratification (of seeing what they created).”

In addition, attendees discussed the merits of Code.org, Scratch Jr. and CodePen for teaching coding in a non-intimidating way.

“What about networking sites for you, as a teacher?” another educator wanted to know.

“The National Science Teachers Association,” another attendee replied.

Ancient knowledge, innovative approach

A second session that afternoon was “Integrating Making in Middle School English/History”.

“You can’t teach history the way you used to any more.  It’s so different,” one teacher commented.

One way she’d brought history to life for her students, she said, happened as they studied the aqueducts of ancient Rome.

“We talked about the ways they built toilets (and what technology of the day was needed for waste management in a big city),” she continued.  “They just couldn’t get enough.”

“We studied trade routes,” said an Oakland-based middle-school instructor.  “(My students) had to tell the story of someone in the trade route.  We used a stop-motion animation.

“It took them longer but I think the kids were more invested in it.”

One English teacher said her students had a shift in perspective when the class read “Red Scarf Girl”.  The book, at first, had presented Mao Tse-Tung as a hero–and she’d had her young readers design lighted electrical circuits in his likeness.

“But the students ultimately realized what an awful person he was.  So we had one day where we destroyed everything.”

A retrospective

The afternoon was drawing to a close.  Participants met back in the main room for a prize drawing.  Each winner received a Makey Makey.

But everyone was leaving with something he or she had gained since coming to Edcamp.

“I think one of the best things about this is the power of networking,” one participant said.

And Josh had told the group, prior to the raffle, that more than 500 Edcamps happen all over the country, every year.  These are all organized by educators, for educators.

Josh also mentioned that Maker Promise has guides available, online, for anyone hosting their own Edcamp.

And perhaps the best accolade came from middle-school teacher Carla Recher.  Carla admitted that she hadn’r originally planned to attend Edcamp.  However, she’d booked an extra night in her hotel, prior to tomorrow’s California STEAM Symposium.  So, she saw Edcamp going on and decided to check it out.

“I didn’t know (this) would be so much fun.”

California STEAM Symposium 2018 starts at 7:00 am, Sunday, October 28th in the Long Beach Convention Center, with the makerspace and exhibits open.  Newcomers’ orientation is offered at 7:30, and the first presentation at 8:30.