Our Plan in Action: Developing Curricula for the Makery

Following its launch three years ago, the Makery program has taken hold at Burke's, weaving its way all through the fabric of the curriculum. And three years in, it's still evolving and growing — and advancing the goals of the Strategic Plan, including project-based learning.

Jenny Howland has been the Lower School Makery Facilitator for all three of the Makery's years. She says she believes that the growing enthusiasm for project-based learning is simply a matter of exposure — when girls are given the opportunity to work with different tools, whether it’s a saw or a sewing machine, they catch on very quickly.
 
“The Makery is a place where a student can use a variety of materials and physics,” says Jenny, who has also been a science teacher and a computer teacher. In fact, she came up with the Makery name because it’s about making things.
 

Over time, simple coding has become one of the strands in the Makery’s Lower School computer science curriculum. Kindergarteners learn to use symbols in a program on the iPad or with robots to control the action, like with dance moves. First graders are using an app called TurtleArt which makes images and commands movements in LOGO programming language. They have also worked with a water color bot program to draw pictures and color. Older students are working with robotics to engineer robots and control them by computer.
 
Open Make time before school and during recess is very popular, and Jenny points out: “The mantra is never say no.”
 
In the Upper School, Marilyn Schaumburg was at the helm for two years until she retired last year. After teaching science (chemistry and physics) at Burke’s for 16 years, and with a daughter in seventh grade, Susan Deemer became the Upper School Makery Facilitator this past fall. “What I find most exciting is collaborating with the teachers. When you’re teaching one subject, you can feel isolated and I can help with that,” she says.
 
That collaboration has been instrumental in making sure that the Makery mindset doesn't stay confined to one area of the curriculum or one space of the campus. Susan will have a conversation with a teacher about curriculum goals, or look at a project for its skills and content, or come up with a new project that will bridge teaching goals. She can remove obstacles for a teacher by ordering and organizing supplies, and she can assist the teacher in her classroom or book separate time in Makery Down — or both!
 
Upper School projects this year included green screen technology for an autobiography project in fifth grade and using algorithms in coding for computer science in math classes. Sixth graders worked with tools and design-thinking protocols for a Breakery take-apart project and used circuitry in making a medieval village. The seventh grade held a Grammar Olympics with Tinkercad 3-D printing resin molds and learned about the Age of Exploration and the Age of Discovery through Google Earth navigation. In the eighth grade, digital storytelling and coding were used for writing Spanish fairytales and Scratch review projects.
 
“It is so inspiring to work with faculty on the creative, generative part of teaching,” Susan says. “This constructivist approach frees them up and allows the students to discover content and develop creative muscle.”
 
Mike Matthews, Director of Curriculum and Program Innovation, says the success of the Makery has been remarkable. He attributes it in part to “fitting into the Burke’s culture so quickly,” and he also cites “the excitement of teachers and students around project-based learning.”
 
In the past, Mike says, “Spaces were defining the learning. We had to re-imagine the space to meet the needs. The first iteration was that there was no front of the classroom. We also explored how to adjust the schedule to teach computer science and coding in the Lower School in a big way. All the faculty embraced breaking down the walls for interdisciplinary cross projects.”

According to Mike, the tools and spaces of the Makery affect the mindset of how girls think about problem solving: “They can tinker, solve, build or deconstruct.”
Back