The ideas behind th eproject were influenced by the current trends on Maker education:
Every child a maker – http://makered.org following the idea that if pupils are makers they are more actively engaged. In this project, such making is facilitated by computer programming to create and play digital games (produce artefacts).
Maker Education is associated with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) learning. Its often based on learning that relies upon hands-on, often collaborative, learning experiences as a method for solving authentic problems. People who participate in ’making’ often call themselves ’makers’. In schools, maker education is often associated with the notion of “failing forward,” or the idea that mistake-based learning is crucial to the learning process and eventual success of a project.
Since 2005, Maker Education has gained momentum in schools around the world and has gathered academic interest. Paulo Blikstein of Stanford University and Dennis Krannich of the University Bremen, in Germany, state that, “Digital fabrication and ‘making,’ and the positive social movement around them, could be an unprecedented opportunity for educators to advance a progressive educational agenda in which project-based, interest-driven, student-centered learning are at the center stage of students’ educational experiences.”
Maker Education is gaining momentum in Sweden with the following initiatives:
Makerskola
This project has seen good results in designing distributed learning models, where teachers collaboratively learn on specific subject matters. In situations where much new knowledge is needed, such as in the implementation of new curricula, such methodology for teacher training seems to be particularly valuable.
With its third year coming, MakeDays is a Swedish conference and workshop series where teachers and school management learn about pogramming, games, maker culture and associated domains. An annual gathering on a common topic builds community, spreads knowledge and strengthens active schools.
Google Hangouts
These can be used to facilitate training/meeting between colleagues. In the Makerskola project, teachers from different schools have joined together in facilitated google hangouts, in which they collaborate and share. Here technology is important, but the facilitation and organisaton of the activity is even more important, and something that teachers themselves have a hard time managing.