"Meaningful Making:" and other reading picks for district leaders

Recommended books offer ideas for makerspace activities, insight into online teaching, a behind-the-scenes look at reform and philanthropy, and methods for teaching steam in elementary school.

Meaningful Making:Projects and Inspirations for Fab Labs and Makerspaces

Constructing Modern Knowledge Press

From the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education comes this compendium of project ideas, articles, best practices and assessment strategies for educators interested in the maker movement.

Stanford’s FabLearn fellows, including book editors Paulo Blikstein, Sylvia Libow Martinez and Heather Allen Pang, guide readers through real student projects and inspirational ideas from learning spaces across a broad range of K12 environments.

Included are STEAM-related and 3D printing projects as well as architectural and engineering drawing projects. Meaningful Making

Online Teaching in K-12

Information Today

Sarah Bryans-Bongey and Kevin J. Graziano consult with more than two dozen experts to craft a reference guide for teachers and administrators featuring models, methods, resources and best practices for integrating online learning into K12 curricula.

The book is organized into three main sections—foundations, supporting diverse learners, and implementation strategies—and covers planning, design and teaching of online courses.

Other subjects explored include flipped classrooms, virtual school-home communication, online student teaching, assistive technology and project-based digital learning. Online Teaching in K-12

Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform and the Politics of Influence

Harvard Education Press

In Policy Patrons, Megan E. Tompkins-Stange offers an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the decision-making process at four influential education philanthropic organizations—the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

Through interviews with key insiders, she explores the integral roles these philanthropic organizations have played in education reform, and examines the values, ideas and beliefs these organization share. Policy Patrons.

Bringing STEM to the Elementary Classroom

NSTA Press

The National Science Teacher’s Association has collected 36 of the best classroom-tested activities from Science and Children, the award-winning journal for elementary teachers. To engage pre-K through 5 students in STEM curricula, lessons are organized by grade-level, grounded in science education research, and connected to all elements of Next Generation science standards.

The development of problem-solving skills is incorporated into lessons, which range from crushing milk cartons to fashioning a prosthetic hand with a 3D printer. Bringing STEM to the Elementary Classroom.

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