USU held Utah’s first Making Innovation Conference on September 24-25 at the STE^2M Center on campus. The purpose of this conference was to bring together the maker community to collaborate on how to encourage, develop, and advance innovative learning through STEM.
Cache Makers took part in the first panel of the conference. Our portion, A Context for STEM Learning and Mentoring, was given by Joel Duffin, Kevin Reeve, and Dallin Graham.
Christopher Craft, the keynote speaker, came into the space on Thursday and enjoyed learning about the way that we choose to incorporate STEM into helping children become life-long learners. In his presentation, he spoke of living in a “what if” world: how can we take a real problem and create a real solution that will be an effective, reliable, and bring forth positive change? Starting first in our local community and building up to being able to make a global impact.
Breanne Litts, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, titled her presentation Making Spaces in Different Places: What Making Looks Like Across Settings. She spoke of the research that is being done on what makes a makerspace an effective environment for learning.
Colby Tofel-Grehl’s, from the University of Virginia and currently teaching at USU, presentation Sewing In The Science: Using Electronic Textiles to Improve Science Teacher Education Programs focused on the research being done on how the teaching of e-textiles helps science teachers better understand the importance of hands on learning, correct misconceptions about learning by experience, and how to implement a teaching style that is aligned with the modern child’s learning style.
The staff in attendance appreciated the opportunity to network with like-minded makers from across the nation and looks forward to attending next years conference.
Cache Makers took part in the first panel of the conference. Our portion, A Context for STEM Learning and Mentoring, was given by Joel Duffin, Kevin Reeve, and Dallin Graham.
Christopher Craft, the keynote speaker, came into the space on Thursday and enjoyed learning about the way that we choose to incorporate STEM into helping children become life-long learners. In his presentation, he spoke of living in a “what if” world: how can we take a real problem and create a real solution that will be an effective, reliable, and bring forth positive change? Starting first in our local community and building up to being able to make a global impact.
Breanne Litts, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, titled her presentation Making Spaces in Different Places: What Making Looks Like Across Settings. She spoke of the research that is being done on what makes a makerspace an effective environment for learning.
Colby Tofel-Grehl’s, from the University of Virginia and currently teaching at USU, presentation Sewing In The Science: Using Electronic Textiles to Improve Science Teacher Education Programs focused on the research being done on how the teaching of e-textiles helps science teachers better understand the importance of hands on learning, correct misconceptions about learning by experience, and how to implement a teaching style that is aligned with the modern child’s learning style.
The staff in attendance appreciated the opportunity to network with like-minded makers from across the nation and looks forward to attending next years conference.
