The MIT Teaching Systems Lab, in collaboration with nonprofit maker education training and resources organization Maker Ed, is working on just that—how to embed assessment into maker activities to quantify what the students are learning, while not destroying the pedagogy in the process. Beyond Rubrics: Assessment in Making is a two-year grant project funded by the National Science Foundation. Research scientists, maker experts, and schools in San Mateo, CA, and Charlottesville, VA, are working together to create a way to evaluate making. Robert Pronovost—San Mateo district lead for this project and innovative learning and technology integration coordinator for the California county with 23 school districts—sees establishing assessments as key to maker sustainability.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
