BENTONVILLE -- Kids aren't the only ones attending camp this summer at the Scott Family Amazeum. The grown-ups are going, too.
The Amazeum this week is hosting its first Maker Boot Camp, where 21 educators from Arkansas and Oklahoma are learning about different tools and material often used as part of classroom tinkering activities.
Tinkering describes activities in which people explore and make things using various methods and materials. It also may involve taking apart objects if only to understand how they work.
Making and tinkering activities help students develop soft skills related to collaboration, problem-solving and perseverance -- all skills they will need to be successful adults, said Mindy Porter, the Amazeum's director of education.
But there are also endless opportunities within tinkering activities to connect with academic standards that touch on everything from engineering to social studies, she said.
"It's a good learning process for students to engage in. And that's why we put so much time and effort and programming behind it, because we think it's such a powerful way to learn," Porter said.
The four-day Maker Boot Camp is an idea inspired by a similar program Amazeum staff members attended last year at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Porter said.
Tinkerfest
The Scott Family Amazeum each year hosts Tinkerfest, a one-day festival where visitors engage in tinkering-related activities, including the deconstruction of a real car. This year’s Tinkerfest is scheduled to be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 6. It is included with paid admission to the museum or with a membership.
Source: Staff Report
That camp gave teachers a chance to do a "deep dive" into different kinds of making, she said.
"One of our ground rules and our goals for the week is to have them take their educator hat off and put a learner hat on," Porter said.
Wednesday, the second day of camp, was split into two sessions: electronic circuitry and textiles and sewing. Campers spent about two and a half hours in each session.
Amazeum staff members guided the circuitry session, where the educators started by getting a basic understanding of how a series circuit works. They explored different ways of connecting batteries to light bulbs. Then they constructed artwork that incorporated paper circuits using copper tape and LED lights.
Katie Koffler, making spaces project manager from the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, led the textiles session. Teachers practiced hand sewing and weaving. Koffler showed them how a sewing machine works. Teachers had time to create something of their own using the different techniques they'd just learned.
The educators at this week's camp include eight from the Williams Traditional Magnet School, an elementary school that's part of the Little Rock School District. Principal Connie Green wants to install maker spaces in the school's classrooms.
Green, a former science teacher, has watched science instruction get pushed aside in favor of math and literacy since she became an administrator. She hopes tinkering and maker spaces will help bring science back to the classrooms, she said.
"And I know the love of hands-on learning," Green said. "Our kids have been conditioned to, 'Let me give you the information, and then you give it back to me.' With maker spaces, they're having to think on their own and be creative. So I'm trying to move to kids really using their inner creativity and being able to express that."
Amazeum staff members already have visited Williams Magnet School to do a workshop with staff members. When Green heard the Amazeum was putting on this camp, she said, "I knew I needed to bring a team up here."
Stacey Harris, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Bentonville's Old High Middle School, also is participating.
She challenged her students this past school year to make things that went along with the topics they studied -- a pyramid as part of their ancient Egypt unit, for example, or a castle with a drawbridge when they studied medieval times.
"I've really been trying to incorporate more making in my classes," Harris said. "When the Maker Boot Camp came up, I was really hoping to get to come and get more ideas for more things I could offer to my students, and widen their possibilities so they could get more from their making experience."
The educators will have spent a total of about 28 hours at the camp by the end of the week. That time counts toward mandated hours they must spend in professional development each year. The Amazeum is certified with the Arkansas Department of Education to provide such training, Porter said.
NW News on 06/07/2018
