Joe Garofalo

Evaluating the Impact of Educational Technology

There are a number of concurrent initiatives related to effective use of technology in teaching and learning. For instance: • The Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Educatio...

Make to learn: invention through emulation

The Make to Learn coalition was established to identify effective pedagogical approaches for employing makerspaces for educational innovation in schools. The Make to Learn coalition is anchored by the Make to Learn Laboratory in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and the Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing in the Charlottesville City Schools, working in collaboration with the Joseph Henry project at Princeton University, advanced manufacturing programs at Midlands Technical College, and the Smithsonian Institution. This paper describes a key consortium initiative, American Innovations in an Age of Discovery. Participating students use school makerspaces to reconstruct working models of transformational inventions. The reconstruction process is grounded in a method employed by historic inventors, invention through emulation. The benefits of this approach, updated to take advantage of modern technologies, are discussed in the context of maker education.

The Make to Learn Electric Motor Design Sequence

Make to Learn Invention Kits allow students to reconstruct working models of historic inventions. This design case describes the development of a series of Make to Learn Electric Motor Invention Kits that spans the time frame from development of the first patented electric motor in the United States to contemporary brushless motors. The design process is described and design decisions that led to the final sequence of electric motor kits are summarized.