Maker Education, Social Media and Creative Learning in the Biosciences: giving students choice

TWEET @ka81Caroline Keep

SEB London: Teaching and Communicating Science in a Digital Age15-17th Dec#SEBEd14

@SEBiologyHEdW rks

Fighting the tide of R.E.P.S. and C.A.V.Es?

An alternative teaching and learning universe

‘Who-topia’:

The T.A.R.D.I.S effect

A peak through the wormhole

Providing Choice

Forget timetables… let students learn when THEY want to (n= 691

posts)

Forget the lecture hall…let students learn on the move…

Forget R.E.P.S

We use TASKPRODS

and let students choose how they wish to show their learning

Why is this important?

It also encourages creativity…

“I call this piece “Frequency Histogram with Guinea Pig”

Stats Guides

Stats Video Guide

Data Collection: DIY experiments / observational studies

The output

Result

Silence is not golden: vocalisations help in pain relief

Testing for normality

Repeated measures

Swearing can help...

Vodka Jelly experiments: setting time and effects on reaction time after consumption

The independent T Test was carried out and there was a significant differencein the mean volume (cm3) of gummy bears in water (n=10) and in salt water(n=10) (t9.023 = 15.002, P<0.001). The mean (±SE) volume of gummy bears inwater and salt water were 19.04 ± 0.99 and 2.14 ± 0.04 (cm3) .

Static Electricity: does hair length affect how far you can move a coke can?

Figure 1: The relationship between hair length (cm) and the distance travelled (cm) after rubbing a balloon against the hair and using the static to push the can.

Killing Time...

RunningTime

TheMovies

How to collect data in your sleep...

A world of utility apps & mods

Learning is personal…

So why not let those who want to take risks?

Why not put the learner in charge.

Why not give students time to brainstorm, invent, design, and build—and then time to fix mistakes, improve, test, and improve again…

Why not let them…

Think. Make. Learn. Share

Let them build Ornithopters

Let them build Rube Goldberg Machines

Let them take up whole rooms if they want to !

THINK

MAKE

LEARN

SHARE

Maker Education:

Maker Education: a constellation of exciting opportunitiesComputer controlled fabrication devices

123D catch™

Pepakura™

Computer controlled fabrication devices

Physical computing

Maker Education: new learning horizons

‘Butterfly Pi’

STEAM

Computer controlled fabrication devices

Physical computing

Coding

Maker Education: a kaleidoscope of creativity

HEdW rks @HEdSpaceUK

Making in an academic context: JMU’s Maker Education Working Group (#MEWG)

HEdW rks

THINKING

MAKING

LEARNING

SHARING

THINK. MAKE. LEARN. SHARE

Caroline Keep@ka81

Mark Feltham@markfeltham666

SEB London: Teaching and Communicating Science in a Digital Age15-17th Dec#SEBEd14

@SEBiologyHEdW rks

The students’ views “It was awesome! Working in a group was fun as we were able to use each other’s skills to our advantage.”

 “I really enjoyed having the freedom to work on my stats in my own time... the task set was more of a fun activity than an assignment! I feel I learned a lot more than I would have done from lectures at 9am.”

  “I have loved how it’s given more scope to take charge of my own work and work under my own steam”

“Stats made so much more sense in the context of using actual data we had collected.”

“I have thoroughly enjoyed this module as being able to carry out a project has made learning and practicing statistics and SPSS so much easier

SO, what did the students think about Creative Learning???

Mini ‘MakerEd’ Faire