Maker education infiltrating the transformation of maker spirit and culture

Traditional cognitivism holds that , The essence of cognition is calculation , Although the brain grows on the body , But its function is independent of the body . Embodied cognition is a kind of cognition that emphasizes the same existence and close relationship between physical process and mental process , Its core meaning includes ： The way and steps of cognitive process are actually determined by the physical properties of the body ; The content of cognition is provided by the body ; cognition 、 The body 、 The environment is one , Cognition exists in the brain , The brain exists in the body , The body exists in the environment . Simply speaking , The theory of embodied cognition holds that , The process of establishing people's cognition of the world is rooted in the interaction between the body and the surrounding physical environment , The cognitive process of abstract knowledge from experience to concept , They are all based on physical embodiment . The practical ability of maker teachers includes maker technology 、 Maker works and maker teaching . These three abilities are closely related to embodied cognition .

First , From the content of practical activities , Maker education emphasizes on real projects 、 The solution of learning and studying real problems in real field , The learning process inevitably requires the presence of the body , So as to establish the unity of the cognitive subject at the level of symbolic meaning and direct experience . meanwhile , Maker education emphasizes intelligent creation （ namely “ product ”）, It's scientific 、 Technical and design features , Practice connection between tool use and creation output , The eyes, ears, mouth, nose and trunk are required to interact with the brain as senses , Realize the cognitive synchronization of external perception and symbolic representation .

secondly , From the cognitive construction process , Makers' practical activities contain multi-disciplinary declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge . Some declarative knowledge , Such as “ Open source hardware ” And so on 、“ Signal transmission and interference ” And so on , The real environment must be perceived through listening, seeing, smelling, touching and doing 、 Somatosensory cognition and operational perception , And with the operator （ device 、 material 、 Tools and equipment ） There's interaction , Form cognition through repeated stimulation . A great deal of procedural knowledge 、 Tacit knowledge and skills also need to be exposed to real problem situations , Through the master's instruction and demonstration 、 Observation imitation 、 Hands on operation and repeated practice .

Look at the emergence and development of makers , We will find that maker is not a narrow concept , The culture of makers has been formed , Makers even don't care about the concept of makers 、 Enjoy yourself in the environment of evaluation , And share happiness selflessly . therefore , I think our teachers should have two basic starting points to be makers ： Find your own creative happiness , Share and create happiness together .

This seems to be a very vague starting point , In fact, it is a prerequisite for the spirit of makers . Makers must create their own , As teachers, we should learn to communicate with students 、 Form a maker community with peers and even with people in other fields , Instead of being on top 、 scripted “ speak ” maker . such as , Students are working on a project of mobile phone control room lighting system , We also make our own space , Design different 、 Different materials , But the idea 、 theory 、 Strategy 、 Tools 、 technology 、 material 、 Algorithm 、 There will be many similarities in the program . We also do , Everyone has a common language , To discuss and make progress together , This reflects your sense of achievement , Because communication 、 Share and have more resonance and inspiration , In this way, teachers' professional development will naturally progress with the growth of students .

Makers want to create , You can't take some maker's materials 、 The equipment allows students to imitate according to the instructions . such as , Make a working vehicle of open source hardware , It can't be limited to fire engines or ambulances , Instead, let students design according to their own projects , Although the sensors used 、 The motor 、 Programming software has similarities and differences , But the purpose is the same ： Design your own plan , Complete your own creation . Some groups choose to make special fire engines , We should consider the temperature more 、 Light source and other sensing detection and processing ; Some groups choose special ambulances to consider the automatic rise and fall of hospital beds 、 Vital signs detection . The essence of maker education is to learn in creation , Not learning by imitation , Our professional development is no longer to be a new maker preacher , It's a maker consultant .

Cultivate teachers' own maker spirit and thinking mode . When you encounter problems, you want to understand , Explore how to better solve ; I didn't meet difficulties , Be creative 、 Active innovation , Find the problem , Innovate reality . Whether it's the content of maker education , Or the way of maker education , We need to have innovative thinking , Instead of thinking about teaching makers by yourself, you have to rely solely on the experience of others , Don't think about problems , Spoil yourself with lazy inertia . Of course , Such thinking is not a big improvement at once , But I have been doing , We have been cultivating in many ways . for example , Just 3D Print design teacup , Learn according to your own situation 、 Experience tea culture , Feel the knowledge of the teacup , Learn about some current ideas of tea cups , Only in this way can we design our own teaching plan , So as to guide students to design and implement more specific tea cup creation projects . Because the teacher understood in advance , There is also the thinking of makers , So students will naturally find some problems in the use and design of tea cups in the real world according to the guidance , use 3D Print design and make your own creative works . Such as , May design sports stars 、 Tea cups with different themes such as three mountains and five mountains , It may also be designed to prevent slipping 、 Tea cups with different functions such as anti scalding or remote control movement . Thinking has changed , Teaching will change , It will naturally rule out the possibility of letting students mechanically imitate the design .

Actively master maker Technology . Maybe this is the most important professional development , Not really . Because maker education is a way , Not a model , There is no model for makers , Create things 、 The technology used also has no domain boundaries , Therefore, teachers cannot master too much maker Technology . such as , Internet + Not all educational things are connected to the Internet , Are based on Cloud Computing . Online technology is not necessarily the focus of Education , Offline content can improve the significance of makers . Such as , Imagine a kitchen for home 、 balcony 、 Check the temperature in the bedroom , And transmit the data to the mobile phone for analysis and control , Maybe we can't easily master such technology , However, we can perform localized analysis on different sensors based on basic data export such as spreadsheets , Initially experience information distribution and collection 、 Technology of data interconnection analysis . so , There is also a reasonable stage for teachers to master technology 、 Appropriate level , But because you are a maker, you should actively look for better , There needs to be a process of continuous improvement .
About maker education , No matter the traditional makers, such as technicians and manufacturers , Or modern makers such as open source hardware and the Internet of things , Even broader theories 、 Cultural and other spiritual makers , Even the latest introduced variant of maker in our professional development “ Create a class ”, It's one anyway “ gen ” word ！“ gen ” It's creativity , We need our thinking to have continuous creative thinking 、 Development of innovative thinking ;“ gen ” Or a creation , We need our technology to support the realization of corresponding ideas 、 Production of works , Fulfill the wish of being a maker .

Last , From the perspective of teaching transformation , Maker education emphasizes the penetration of maker spirit and maker culture , Emphasize facing “ product ” Project-based learning of design , Emphasize learning activities such as creation and open source sharing . If the maker teachers themselves lack maker practice and learning experience , He can't imagine 、 Difficult to carry out and interpret Maker Teaching , It is also difficult to effectively guide students in project development . therefore , Maker teachers need to learn the knowledge of maker teaching .

in summary , The formation of maker teachers' practical ability has “ Physical and mental integration ”、“ Unity of ” The internal needs of , And embodied cognitive theory “ Monism of body and mind ” Fit . Guide the training of maker teachers with the theory of embodied cognition , It will help to eliminate the distance between maker education theory and practice .