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The tools and ethos of the Maker revolution offer insight and hope for schools. The breadth of options and the “can-do” attitude espoused by the movement is exactly what students need, especially girls who tend to opt out of science and math in middle and high school. However, hands-on Making is not just a good idea for young women. All students need challenge and “hard fun” that inspires them to dig deeper and construct big ideas. Making science hands-on and interesting is not pandering to young sensibilities; it honors the learning drive and spirit that is all too often crushed by endless worksheets and vocabulary drills. Making is a way of bringing engineering to young learners. Such concrete experiences provide a meaningful context for understanding the abstract science and math concepts traditionally taught by schools while expanding the world of knowledge now accessible to students for the first time.

Above all, it’s the emotions elicited by teaching that make it such a powerful vehicle for learning. Student tutors feel chagrin when their virtual pupils fail; when the characters succeed, they feel what one expert calls by the Yiddish term nachas. Don’t know that word? I had to learn it myself: “Pride and satisfaction that is derived from someone else’s accomplishment.”

On a subsequent test of their skills, the students who had observed agents using rules of reasoning to solve a problem “significantly outperformed” students who had only practiced applying the rules themselves.

A 2009 study of Betty’s Brain published in the Journal of Science Education and Technology found that students engaged in instructing her spent more time going over the material and learned it more thoroughly.

everal aspects of course design can affect retention; however, one of the most overlooked is visual design. Looks matter. In fact, in e-Learning and the Science of Instruction, Richard Mayer and Ruth Clark have reported an average learning increase of 89% in courses that added relevant visuals to text. With this in mind, consider the five design strategies listed below that can help capture students’ eyes and interest throughout your course.

Every visual should serve a specific purpose and align with your objectives.

Graphics should act as street signs that compliment content and guide students in the right direction, so keep your graphical layout sleek and minimal.

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yielded slightly positive results in both students’ attitude towards science and homework return rates