Participate and share: Poster 
Participants will learn new ways to integrate technology through the use of a Makerspace. They will know how to expand open-ended learning opportunities into a STEAM-focused learning environment that encourages collaboration and allows for opportunities to think of how to increase social good through the engineering design process.
Participants will be able to learn about the steps taken to expand Makerspace thinking and see the impact that this had on the students. They will see how an idea to get students thinking turned into a space where students explore, examine, and develop new ideas. They will see how groups in our military community contributed to the success of our Makerspace through donations, purchases of equipment, and volunteering. They will take away new ideas proven to work with students in K-5 schools with a successful Makerspace. They will see how teachers with varying levels of technology skills promote technology integration in maker-inspired learning.
Participants will be introduced to specific skills such as the use of task cards in a Makerspace. Participants will also learn the role of teacher scaffolding to encourage student learning while allowing student choice to guide exploration. Thematic units that can be successfully integrated in centers in a Classroom will be readily available for participants to incorporate in their own Classroom for students to explore further.
Participants will see how educational challenges such as limited resources, disengaged students, and larger class sizes can benefit from the use of an Makerspace. Ideas to help gain the support of teachers and administrators in developing an Makerspace will be shared.
Participants will see how the project-based learning model was used to develop tasks and real-world applications in the Makerspace. Students are engaged in projects that are personally meaningful through critical thinking, organic collaboration, and creativity. Students are able to take design risks and explore the world through technology that is not available to them in their communities. Participants will see how students can learn from each other as they connect to problems others face around the world.
Participants will see how their students can become global thinkers as they tackle problems that might not happen in their local community. They will gain empathetic social emotional schools as they connect with other military students around the world.
During my poster session, I plan to engage with attendees through peer-to-peer interaction and a brief slide presentation that demonstrates examples of how the specific technology components were used to promote social good in our Makerspace, and what projects were developed by students. I will answer questions about any of the technology applications and student projects. I will have QR codes displayed, and on handouts, that will link to all of the session materials and takeaways. I intend it to be a free-flowing conversation but will be able to provide a 5-7 minute overview to larger groups using the slide presentation when necessary. I would like participants to walk away with ideas that will foster growth in their Makerspaces or encourage innovation with those without Makerspaces.
Our Makerspace for social good project is research-based and supported by abundant studies in the following categories: Makerspace as an effective learning environment, the need for student connections, learning from the environment, collaborative groups, project based learning, and real world applications. We are providing citations to multiple research papers and books that support our project in these categories.
Makerspace:
Hsu, YC., Baldwin, S. & Ching, YH. Learning through making and maker education. TechTrends (2017) 61: 589.
Dougherty, D. (2013). The maker mindset. In M. Honey & D. E. Kanter (Eds.), Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of STEM innovators (pp. 7–11). New York: Routledge.
Boise State University (2016). Making & achieving go hand in hand. EdTech Connection Blog. Retrieved from https://edtech.boisestate.edu/15252-2/.
Student Time Outside:
Burdette HL, Whitaker RC. Resurrecting Free Play in Young Children: Looking Beyond Fitness and Fatness to Attention, Affiliation, and Affect. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159(1):46–50.
White, Jan. Playing and Learning Outdoors: Making provision for high quality experiences in the outdoor environment with children 3–7. Routledge, 2013.
Learning From the Environment:
Trisha Maynard & Jane Waters (2007) Learning in the outdoor environment: a missed opportunity?, Early Years, 27:3, 255-265.
Tina M. Waliczek and Jayne M. Zajicek (1999) School Gardening: Improving Environmental Attitudes of Children Through Hands-On Learning. Journal of Environmental Horticulture: December 1999, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 180-184.
Collaborative Groups:
Adams, Dennis, and Mary Hamm. Cooperative Learning: Critical Thinking and Collaboration Across the Curriculum.. Charles C. Thomas, Publishers, 2600 South First Street, Springfield, IL 62794-9265.
Stan, Ina Teodora. Group Interaction in the'Outdoor Classroom': the Process of Learning in Outdoor Education. Diss. Bucks New University, 2008.
Project Based Learning:
Stephanie Bell (2010) Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future, The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 83:2, 39-43.
Christopher J. Kruger, Stephen C. Scogin, Regan E. Jekkals. (2019) The STREAM Program: Project-Based Learning in an Outdoor Context. Kappa Delta Pi Record 55:2, pages 85-88.
Real World Applications:
David Fortus, Joseph Krajcik, Ralph Charles Dershimer, Ronald W. Marx & Rachel Mamlok‐Naaman (2005) Design‐based science and real‐world problem‐solving, International Journal of Science Education, 27:7, 855-879.
Clapp, E.P., Ross, J., Ryan, J.O., Tishman, S. (2016). Maker-centered learning: Empowering young people to shape their worlds. John Wiley& Sons. Creative Problem Solving: Students' skills in tackling real-life problems (2014).
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