Everyone can be a Maker, your curiosity just has to be fostered.That's me circa Fall 2018 before my very unfortunate haircut. I made that waterfall necklace over the course of several days and it was a pain in the butt. Even though it wasn't perfect, and even though I don't have many occasions to wear such a statement piece, I am very happy that I didn't give up on completing it.
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My name is Arami Rosales. I am an engineer-in-training (EIT), a teacher-in-training, and most importantly a Maker. These identifications are rather new to me. When I was younger, I really never saw myself as an engineer. I always thought that to be an engineer you had to grow up taking electronics apart and putting them back together, and that was definitely not something I did. I'm not sure if it was because we didn't have electronics for me to take apart, or my lack of curiosity, but never having that childhood experience kind of jaded me. Reading about Feynman's childhood experiences with fixing radios and playing with TVs in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! made me feel like I lacked an inherent skill for tinkering. It made me wonder if my students felt the same. This encouraged me to reach out and try to understand my student's personal views of themselves as Makers.
I don't think I every associated myself with engineering until I entered middle school. In middle school, I found my passion -- Science Olympiad. Science Olympiad is a national science competition where teams of 15 students compete against other schools in 23 different events ranging from academic tests to engineering. SciO made me realize that even though I never tinkered as a child, I was still capable of teaching myself how to create and engineer. It allowed me to explore different fields and styles of engineering. It made me more confident with the idea that I could be an engineer some day. It allowed me to take ownership and agency of my educational direction. I participated in SciO form 7th to 12th grade. In that time I learned about the engineering design process, managing failure, and team work, but the greatest thing I learned from SciO happened after graduating high school. After graduating from high school and entering college, I continued to work with SciO teams in Austin as a Mentor. I was so grateful for what Scio gave me, that I wanted to give something back. Working with passionate and motivated students made me realize that teaching was something I wanted to do. I loved engineering but teaching students how to solve an engineering problem is so incredibly rewarding. |
When I heard about UTeach Maker, I knew I had to get involved. I love engineering and I love teaching, being a Maker just made sense. To me, Making means building/constructing/creating anything. It is taking something that you have imagined and creating it so it exists in the physical/digital world. I think Making happens every day. From latte art to construction sites, every day we are making something new.
When I was in SciO, I found that I felt more connected with the physics behind engineering because I was the builder. I was the one who owned a design, I was its creator. That ownership gave me the drive to continue to learn and push my design to be better. I think this ownership could go a long way in the classroom too. Having finished Classroom Interactions where I taught a project-based-lesson, I think Making is integral to teaching. Though it might be impossible to make every lesson hands on, I would love to incorporate all styles of making into my physics classroom. I don't want my students to be limited to motors and levers. I want my students to understand that all people are have the ability to make. Art and science can go hand in hand. |