Social Studies Maker Project (part 1)
Recently, I was approached by Brooks Lee, one of our 8th grade Social Studies teachers, about helping him use Makerspace tools in his curriculum. He had attended a session at a professional development meeting, and his eyes had been opened to the possibilities for his students. During his preparation period, we started meeting regularly and discussing how this might look. He shared the idea with his co-worker, April Lawson, and she was also on board to team up with her 8th grade Social Studies classes. A box of K'nex April and Brooks began working out the details with a rubric and timeline. It was decided that they would have the students pick any topic from the 1800s and create an informative presentation using innovation tools of their choice. They requested that the students have a day in the library to show them the possibilities with our various Makerspace tools. We decided to show them the items that would work well with the assignment. These inc...