What is Makey-Makey?
Makey-Makey is a basic circuit kit that allows students to complete circuits using mediums such as water or metal. Makey-Makey is useful because it has nearly infinite applications for developing solutions to everyday problems. For example, Makey-Makey can be used on railway tracks with an incoming train completing the circuit, allowing for the device to accurately log train times.
Makey-Makey can be found at the following website: https://makeymakey.com
The device functions by using alligator clips attached to a basic circuit board, and allowing that to interface with computer software. Each clip can be mapped to keys on a keyboard or lights that allow information to be displayed, or users to interact with the circuit.
What Year 7 & 8 VCAA outcomes does Makey-Makey support?
Analyse and visualise data using a range of software to create information, and use structured data to model objects or events (VCDTDI038)
Define and decompose real-world problems taking into account functional requirements and sustainability (economic, environmental, social), technical and usability constraints (VCDTCD040)
Design the user experience of a digital system, generating, evaluating and communicating alternative designs (VCDTCD041)
Identify questions, problems and claims that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on scientific knowledge (VCSIS107)
Link to Academic Research & Justification:
Makey-Makey is a good STEM resource because it allows students to work together to create solutions to problems in an innovative way. A social constructivist method of teaching would allow students to form group projects, and Powell & Kalina (2009) espouse the use, explaining that “Social constructivism is based on the social interactions a student in the classroom along with a personal critical thinking process” (p. 243).
This social constructivism theory is based on the idea of cooperative learning, where “students should not only work with teachers one-on-one, but they should also work with other students” because “students have a lot to offer one another” (Powell & Kalina 2009, pp. 243-244). It is best that students work with each other to create mutual understanding of the software.
This falls in line with Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development. Schunk (2018) mentions that “the ZPD is the difference between what children can do on their own and what they can do with assistance from others” and that “interactions with adults and peers in the ZPD promote cognitive development (Schunk, 2018, p.332). In other words, the amount they are capable of learning improves through these interactions. By working in groups they improve the amount they are able to learn.
References:
Makey-makey ,2019, makey makey. [online] https://makeymakey.com/, retrieved 30th May 2019
Powell, K. C. & Kalina, C. J. 2009, ‘Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom’, Education, 130 (2),241-250. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.
Schunk, D. H. 2012, Learning Theories ‘An Educational Perspective’(6). Retrieved from http://repository.umpwr.ac.id:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/96/[Dale_H._Schunk]_Learning_Theories_An_Educational..pdf?sequence=1
Victorian curriculum and assessment authority 2017, retrieved 21st May 2019, http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/
STEM Resources 