This past week, the Center for Digital Education published an article, “Why the Maker Movement is Popular in Schools.” This article, which includes part of an interview the author, Tanya Riscorla, conducted with me, makes the case for the pendulum moving back towards the student-centered, constructivist environment envisioned by many, including John Dewey.

As we head into our faculty meetings this week, I am excited to hear the feedback from our faculty, who read the book, Invent to Learn by Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez, who was also quoted in Riscorla’s article. I have already had conversations with two colleagues and they are already bringing new ideas that they want to implement in their classroom.

I am also excited to watch our new Innovation Lab come together. This week, the room will be painted, we will be installing new ceiling tiles, furniture, and computer workstations (at least I hope) that I will be ready to for the 8:15 a.m. Monday, August 26th, when I will teach the first period of the first day in this new space.

If you are interested in developing the maker mindset, I would suggest that you read this great article and the work that many are doing, including Pam Moran and Tracy Rudztis are doing in this area, along with others like Jaymes Dec, Andrew Carle, Lindsey Own, Lauren Blankenship, Karen Blumberg, to name a few. It looks like it will be an exciting year.