ROUND UP
ROUND U P
Integrating EdTe Classroom
A
At the BETT show in London this year, there were hundreds
launched amongst t
of them for the first coding and robotics have noted was the
the huge hall. One thing that visitors will surely
time. Those who went on to companies exhibiting, many increase in the number of
visit the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg wil l have seen a new hall created to house, almost exclusively, robotics and coding companies coming from all over the globe.Whilst not all of these companies focus on the education market, a great deal do specialise in EdTech.
The rise in popularity of robotics and coding in general is of course, a sign of the times.
Technology is moving fast and in the digital age we live in, the coding, robotics and indeed AI industries are becoming hugely important future employers for the students of today. In schools therefore it becom es ever more importan t to properly evaluate EdTech and its worth to learning outcomes before deploying in the classroom to avoid technology for technology’s sake.
,
a broad STEAMedu packaging designer
The industry, quite obviously, sits on the T of the STEAMspectrum but it is an industry encompassing the whole spectrum of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The programmer, the product developer and the could all have benefitted from cation. These are individual
functions with thei r own areas of expertise bu t they must cross over, interlock and be collaborative.
The teaching of STEAMbased subjects in a maker space environment fosters this sort of collaborative working and will stand students in good stead in their future career choices. Just as in any organisation, in a maker space
environment, students with different abilities come together to think, solve, create and see
he thousands on show across of new products being
Te ch into the
proj
ojects through to completion. The collaborative way of working on a peer-to-peer level mimics real work situations.
Just as an organisation needs to be organised, so it is with a maker space and the right choice of fixed and mobile storage options are an important part of getting it right. Students
perform better when they take ownership of their own maker space, selecting their own resources, returning unused items and keeping their kit organised. For the teacher, it’s a win-win as self- service resources reduce set up and take down time, leaving more time for teaching and learning. Speaking about their GratnellsMakerSpace trolley, Sid Cox, Technician at Didcot Girls’ School agrees and says, “The students really like the set up and so are very willing to put the equipment back properly at the end of lessons”.
Furniture and storage choices may all seem a 46
www.education-today.co.uk.co.uk www
long way from AI and coding but leaders in this area, developing products with STEAMin mind are also recognising the importance of the physical side of maker spaces. One such company isMakeblock who is working with Gratnells on kit packaging solutions that are compatible with existing school storage. It has taken the decision to move all of its packaging to the iconic Gratnells tray and combine multiple kits with the MakerSpace trolley to provide a full STEAM package.
Gratnells is now building on the success of th e award-winningMakerSpace trolley by developing a suite of new maker products like theMakerHub to support STEAMlearning and collaborative ways of working. These will be appearing throughout 2019 .
www.gratnells.com Marc h 2019 2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
