Module #4: Writing in Graduate Studies

University of Saskatchewan

Sarah Simmons

In partial fulfillment of requirements for

ECUR 990: Seminar in Curriculum Research

Dr. Jay Wilson

The article that I have chosen to share and review is one that I have been using during my
research for my Ecur 805 course focusing on the maker movement in communities and
schools. This is a hot topic in education these days and is one worth exploring and delving
more deeply into.

Stager, G. (2014, Winter). WHAT'S THE maker movement AND WHY SHOULD I CARE? Scholastic
Administr@tor, 13, 43-45. Retrieved from
file:///home/chronos/u-131fb643559e2fa92d754784fe619fc460ff0c28/Downloads/3044410
23-whats-the-maker-movement-and-why-should-i-care-scholastic.pdf

Gary Stager, Ph.D., is a teacher and educator, author, speaker, and journalist who works
with schools and keynote conferences around the world. He is also the co-author of the
book, ​Invent to Learn​, which is one the most widely read books on the development of the
maker movement within schools.

The main questions being raised in this article link back to the book that Gary Stager has
co-written with Sylvia Libow Martinez, ​Invent to Learn-Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in
the Classroom​(2013). This article acts as a synopsis of the larger book and the work that
Stager and Martinez have completed. Gary makes the argument for the necessity of bringing
in project and opportunities in classrooms as “the shift to ‘making’ represents the perfect
storm of new technological materials, expanded opportunities, learning through firsthand
experience, and the basic human impulse to create”(Stager, 2014, pg 44). The main
questions presented in the article are around why people should offer opportunities to
‘make’, what some of the technologies that people might use when making, and how
communities of practice can support this work.

The author delves deeply into what a maker is by definition and argues that making can
work to break down barriers between subjects in many schools. “Making dissolves the
distinctions between domains such as art, humanities, engineering, and science. More
importantly, it obliterates the destructive cleavage between vocational and academic
education (Stager, 2014, pg 3/6). The author outlines some of the more popular
technological aspects that could be beneficial for students and how they might use them. He
argues that education and teaching that has been focused on the deliverance of specific
curriculum is failing the students and crushing the teachers. “If we focus on a handful of
powerful ideas and create experiences where students naturally need to stretch their
understanding, students learn more. The role of the teacher is to create and facilitate these
powerful, productive contexts for learning” (Stager, 2014, 3/6). Gary talks about the
importance of students being given choice in their learning and how we can work to
empower youth in this work. He also focuses deeply on the necessity of the community of
practice in successful makerspaces. “Maker classrooms are active classrooms. In active
classrooms one will find engaged students, often working simultaneously, and teachers
unafraid of relinquishing their authoritarian role”(Stager, 2014, 4/6).

Gary Stager argues passionately throughout the article about the necessity of this work in
our classrooms. He argues tirelessly about how much students can grow and learn from
being given the opportunity to be the architects of their learning. There is an
acknowledgment that this is tremendously big work but the payoff and the difference it
could make in the life of a child is worth it.

References:

Stager, G. (2014, Winter). WHAT'S THE maker movement AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Scholastic Administr@tor, 13, 43-45. Retrieved from
file:///home/chronos/u-131fb643559e2fa92d754784fe619fc460ff0c28/Downloads/3
04441023-whats-the-maker-movement-and-why-should-i-care-scholastic.pdf

Martinez, S., & Stager, G. (2013). Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the
Classroom. Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press.