Future teachers are discovering how to use interactive learning tools and software at the College of Education’s Educational Makerspace.
A makerspace is a collaborative work space inside a school, library or separate public/private facility for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses high tech to no tech tools.
The College of Education’s Makerspace, located at the Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa, houses a variety of interactive technology and resources that can be applied in classrooms to teach STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).
“What we do in this space is help expose pre-service teachers to some of the technologies and teaching methods that they’ll find in makerspaces across the state and country,” says Darrell Currington, the makerspace facilitator and a staff member in the UI College of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning.
“A lot of these activities can be developed with a focus in math, engineering, or art,” says Currington. “We try to take all those elements and put them into one activity so it can be applied to different classes.”
Kay Ramey, an assistant professor of Learning Sciences and Educational Psychology, does research specializing in STEAM learning.
“I’ve had the opportunity to do research in school-based makerspaces around the country,” Ramey says. “Over the last two years, I’ve been working with Darrell Currington to design and equip the educational makerspace for the college and design educational programming that makes use of that space.”
To engage the local community, Ramey and Currington co-facilitate a free afterschool STEAM club at
Kirkwood Elementary with librarian Lisa Zortman, using tools from the makerspace. College of Education pre-service teachers have the opportunity to complete a 10-hour practicum as co-facilitators at this program.
“This gives them more practice with STEAM tools and concepts. It also gives them hands-on experience practicing STEAM teaching and an opportunity to give back to the community,” says Ramey. “This year alone, we’ve enrolled 29 preservice teachers in our STEAM program and served three cohorts of 20 elementary school students with our afterschool program. The feedback we’ve gotten from participants has been fantastic.”
Yetunde Mabadeje is a graduate research and teaching assistant in the UI College of Education’s Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations who enjoys working in this space. Yetunde recently completed her first year in the Learning Sciences and Educational Psychology doctoral program.
“One of the ways that the makerspace can help is by allowing you to come in and talk through your ideas, and Darrell will help you bring those ideas to fruition,” says Mabadeje.
The makerspace has given Mabadeje the opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills by working with design projects during her first year in the Learning Sciences and Educational Psychology doctoral program. This space helps students to become more effective and creative teachers and researchers.
“The makerspace is really useful, not for just student learning but also teacher development,” says Mabadeje. “It is a great resource to help teachers brainstorm with different concepts.”
Mabadeje plans to finish her doctoral program while continuing to spend time in her hometown of Lagos, Nigeria during summers. She plans to implement her research into the Nigerian education system after completing her doctorate.
College of Education students and faculty can reserve the space or come in for individual project work or a consultation. For more information, visit education.uiowa.edu/makerspace.
“This is a great environment to do those activities because we have space, we can make a mess, and we can be loud,” says Currington. “ It’s the place to be to practice STEAM.”
