Maker education provides new forms of engagement for all kinds of learners as it offers opportunities to solve technological challenges whilst also having fun. 

In ‘connecting by making’ Arab Arabic speaking and Jewish Hebrew speaking children, met online and collaborated to solve Making challenges. Every week over a ten-week period these young learners spent an hour and a half together learning about physics and engineering, investigating motion and mechanics, and sound and electricity.  During the workshops the children planned and built a product through a making challenge, helping them to learn new scientific principles. COVID-19 and the lockdown measures forced Bloomfield Science Museum to develop online bilingual workshops that were not only engaging but also designed in a way that connects experience between different cultures.

These collaborative activities were all led by facilitators from the Bloomfield Science Museum on Zoom. To communicate with teammates easily, WhatsApp was used, which created a lively space for the young learners where they shared their ideas, their products, and asked for advice and assistance from the facilitators. Alongside this, social media was used allowing them to translate their teammate’s language without the aid of the facilitators, encouraging cross-cultural collaboration.  

In spite of COVID-19, with the use of Maker Education, the children had an experience that engaged their minds, hands, and their hearts.

“It’s the first time I learn in such a workshop, it was beautiful and a wonderful opportunity.”

This is the final episode of SySTEM 2020’s learners perspective. To view the whole season, head to our learners perspective page to hear from learners from across Europe and their experience with STEAM.