EAGER:Maker: Making Inspired by Nature: Digital Tools and Activities for Supporting Pre-service Elementary Teachers in Applying Biomimicry in a Maker-centered Classroom

路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校旨在提高准备小学职前教师的有效性，通过仿生学的透镜，让儿童参与以制造者为中心的学习和设计思维。为了实现这一目标，该项目将（a）建立和评估数字资源，并通过在以制造者为中心的背景下，为代表性不足和服务不足的小学儿童应用仿生学和设计思维，在创新中引入经验教训，（B）开发和评估深化职前教师教学知识的模型，以支持学生在以制造者为中心的课堂上学习。 参加这些示范计划的职前教师将获得宝贵的经验，为参加课后计划的社区儿童以及他们将在自己的课堂上服务的未来学生建立和发展以创造者为中心的学习倾向。智力价值在于项目模型的发展和评估，该模型包括两个主要组成部分：（a）两个学期的脚手架序列的制造和仿生经验的小学职前教师和（B）小学年级的制造者为中心的学习课程，使灵感来自自然。 该项目将向职前教师介绍创新的学科，如系统思维，探究，仿生学，创新和在展示中分享工作。这些活动将遵循从有趣和实验性的制作到使用思考、制作、改进的工程设计过程的发展，以使创客项目经历多次迭代。在自然界如何运作的例子的支持下，每个单元都将有机会应用仿生学和制造者的理想来解决真实的世界问题。这些经验将被扩展到实践中，因为职前教师在周末和夏季课程期间为大约80名社区儿童辅导小团体儿童，因为他们参与了自然课程的制作灵感，以解决他们自己确定的制作挑战。 该项目是NSF的Maker Dear Colleague Letter（DCL）组合（NSF 15-086）的一部分，该组合是计算机信息科学工程（CISE），教育和人力资源（EHR）和工程（ENG）董事会的合作投资。

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette seeks to improve the effectiveness of preparing elementary pre-service teachers to engage children in maker-centered learning and design thinking through the lens of biomimicry. To achieve this, the project will (a) build and evaluate digital resources and engaging experiential lessons in innovation through the application of biomimicry and design thinking in a maker-centered context for underrepresented and underserved elementary children, and (b) develop and evaluate models for deepening pre-service teachers' pedagogical knowledge for supporting student learning in maker-centered classrooms. Pre-service teachers participating in these model programs will gain valuable experience in modeling and developing maker-centered learning dispositions for community children participating in after-school programs as well as for the future students they will serve in their own classrooms.The intellectual merit is in the development and evaluation of the project model which consists of two primary components: (a) a two semester scaffolded sequence of Making and biomimicry experiences for elementary pre-service teachers and (b) an elementary grades maker-centered learning curriculum, Making Inspired by Nature. The project will introduce pre-service teachers to innovative pedagogies such as systems thinking, inquiry, biomimicry, innovation, and sharing work in a showcase. These activities will follow a progression from Making as playful and experimental to using the engineering design process of think, make, improve to take maker projects through multiple iterations. Supported by examples of how nature functions, each unit will culminate with an opportunity to apply biomimicry and the maker ideals to solve a real world issue. These experiences will be extended into practice as pre-service teachers mentor small groups of children during weekend and summer programs for approximately 80 community children as they engage in the Making Inspired by Nature curriculum to solve their own identified Making challenge. This project is a part of NSF's Maker Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) portfolio (NSF 15-086), a collaborative investment of Directorates for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR) and Engineering (ENG).