Supporting the Maker Movement

On February 15th, my Children and Technology class focused on the concept of tinkering, the idea of using open-ended materials to create a product. For this specific activity we created marble runs. Prior to starting the construction of our marble runs we watched the video below. It features a 7 year old boy named Audri experimenting with tinkering by creating his own Rube Goldberg Machine, a device that completes a simple action through a chain reaction of events (Wonderopolis, 2014), similar to the marble run.

Working in our lab groups, the #techies used open-ended materials that we brought in to class as well as materials provided by our professor, these included paper towel tubes, water bottles, pieces of wood, cardboard tubes and tape. This activity demonstrated the importance of trial and error, as it took several attempts before we arrived at our final product (pictured below). However we powered through using teamwork, collaboration and communication amongst our group.

The open-ended nature of this activity and the materials used in it, make it an ideal activity for young children to interact with new materials and textures while not being limited to what they can create. As Siemens (2014), said "real-life learning is messy and complex", by giving children the freedom to manipulate these materials as they like, they are learning about the qualities of these objects and how they work. This hands-on experience also plays a critical role in how the children will construct their marble runs.

The teamwork component plays a big part in the process, especially when the construction of the marble run begins and children must decide where to start. "Decision-making itself is a learning process" (Siemens, 2014), so although it looks like the children are creating a simple marble track, they are learning about the importance of building, balance, and weight in an attempt to make the marble move throughout their entire structure. Working independently or in small groups also give children opportunities to communicate with their peers.

Image free from Wix (2017)

Although we are surrounded by new and beneficial digital technology on a daily basis, with new ways to learn a language, subject or skill, the best way for young children to learn remains to be through play. Through the creation of the marble runs, children are introduced to concepts found in math and science, interact with their classmates, while using both gross and fine motor skills to construct the marble run. There is no digital substitute for play.

For a longer and more complex Rube Goldberg Machine experiment you can watch this video! It's the music video for OK Go's This Too Shall Pass, the Rube Goldberg Machine featured took several months to create!

Word Count: 466

References:

Siemens, G. (2014). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age.

Workopolis. (2014). What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?

#Tinkering #Connectivism #MarbleRun