Technological inventions bring great benefits to our daily lives. They help us to carry out tasks efficiently, to stay up to date and to share our knowledge. Little by little we have been educating ourselves in the digital age, but human beings have always had the need to create, to do things for themselves. Its promoter and inventor of the term WEB 2.0, Dale Dougherty, realised this quality and decided to promote it until it became a movement over the years. The maker movement . A phenomenon that emerged precisely from the Internet. Where the knowledge to be developed is shared and then made in an artisanal way. Technology helps them to learn, explore and carry out their ideas. Both young people and adults are encouraged to participate. There is no age range or experience, what counts is the desire to innovate.
According to its creator, “we are all makers ”. “We have this ability to do things to show that we understand something” and that something also invites us to play. “They play to discover what technology can do and perhaps to discover what they can do themselves. What their own capabilities are” . They consider it a new industrial revolution. Its philosophy is based on “Do It Yourself” (DIY), a term that has recently become popular and which deals with creating our own objects and trying not to consume what surrounds us.
“A Maker is someone who draws identity and meaning from the act of creation. What distinguishes contemporary makers from inventors of other times is the incredible power that modern technologies and a globalized economy provide them, to connect and learn and as a means of production and distribution.”
Education is trying to embrace the Maker movement , entering spaces where students and young innovators can learn about STEAM disciplines . Stimulating creative thinking and inviting them to participate. For many teachers, Maker culture is also a way of generating solidarity and teamwork. These are fundamental ways of fostering values such as respect and critical thinking.
This trend is gradually reaching the classrooms themselves. A proposal is made to the board to give up a space or include it as a syllabus in one of the subjects. Here in Spain, it is occurring in technology classes and in some subjects related to robotics. There are also spaces such as Mooc Cultura Maker en el aula and Make & Learn , platforms dedicated to teaching Maker culture .
Maker Movement: Maker Spaces
Digital manufacturing workshops that serve as learning
The objectives of these makerspaces are similar. Their foundations are based on technological usa mobile phone numbers database trends, traditional techniques and the DIY (Do It Yourself) strategy.
“The Maker Movement must enter education to stay. It is a trend that allows us to touch the world around us and move from knowing and remembering to CREATING and BUILDING. It allows us to learn by doing.”
In Mooc Cultura Maker en el aula , anyone interested in the subject can participate. It is part of the Mooc Intef training modality , “an educational meeting place”, and is funded by the European Commission Erasmus +. It is a course that is taught for 5 weeks and its objectives, as stated on their page, are:
Design your own project that includes DIY strategies and is related to Maker culture.
Learn the main characteristics of 3D printing and other self-manufacturing methods.
It is advisable to read the registration rules and requirements.
MOOC in the classroom, a new educational method
At Make & Learn they are based on maker education and the technological trend; robotics. “Accompanying education on STEAM disciplines, with the aim of generating greater interest in these areas among young students, stimulating skills that are so important today such as logical and creative thinking, communication…”
Also in the maker culture , the installation of maker spaces in different places around the world has been growing; the well-known Fab Labs and makespaces .
Fab Labs
Also known as hacklabs or hackerspaces , these are physical spaces associated with new technologies, graphic design or engineering . They are often open for informal and unscheduled activities. People, at different levels, meet to build things, test solutions, network or share resources. They are very often used by students and teachers.
“The Maker Movement provides opportunities to boost individual and collective capabilities”
The expansion of the “maker” has contributed to the lowering of the cost of 3D printers and to many of the technological innovations that were previously exclusive to multinationals and large manufacturers . More and more industries need technical and technological personnel. However, in technical education, they are found on the margins of the educational system, where, above all, the theoretical basis is learned.
In the maker trend, all kinds of projects are created, from the basic to the most elaborate. The most frequently used technological techniques are: 3D printing and robotics.