Practice Description

Virtual Makerspaces

by ovos media Gmbh + Otelo eGen added on 13 Nov 2020

Brief description:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in Austria were closed by mid-March 2020. This is why ovos and Otelo developed two Virtual Makerspace workshops. These kind of workshops could reach children who were being home-schooled. Otelo produced videos for an instructional step-by-step tutorial which ovos edited and uploaded to the COMnPLAYer app, adding fun pictures, emojis and additional content about science. Each instruction meeting took up to 15 minutes; the facilitator was available in the Zoom meeting for a few hours (2 hours in the first, 2-3 hours in the second); each presentation meeting took 15 minutes. The participants learned how to build a glass terrarium (First Virtual Makerspace) and how to programme a BBC Micro:Bit robot.
Photos:
Countries:
(where the practice takes place)
Austria
Cities:
(where the practice takes place)
Not taking place at a specific city
Organization name:
(running the practice)
ovos media Gmbh + Otelo eGen
Organization type:
Commercial
Contact person:
Martin Hollinetz, Jörg Hofstätter
Contact email:
(for further information and inquiries)
martin.hollinetz@gmail.com
Social media:
https://www.facebook.com/otelos/?ref=page_internal, https://www.facebook.com/ovos.media/
Related resources:
(e.g., web site, publications,media)
Participants’ age groups:
5 - 13; 10 - 14
Indicative number of participants:
4 - 17
Oriented to a specific gender?
No
Frequency:
(for the same group of participants)
Single-occasion
Total duration:
(for the same group of participants)
Half day
Location:
(where the practice takes place)
  • Home
  • Online
What are the role(s) of the adult(s) running the practice?
  • Facilitator
  • Mentor / Guide
  • Observer
  • Maker/coder/scientist
During the practice, participants…
  • Make
  • Code
Participants work…
  • Alone
  • In pairs
  • In family groups/with support of family group
    • What type of materials do participants use?
    • Craft supplies / Stationery
    • Other: Grass, flowers, stones, soil, wood, etc.
    • Computers
    • Mobile phones
    • Tablets
    • Robotics
    Pedagogical approach:
    • Project (or task)-based learning
    • Discovery-learning
    • Creative thinking
    Social justice/equity approaches:
    • Activities address issues of equity (gender, sexuality, ethnicity, social class, ability/disability)
    • Free events/funding for those from low-income groups
    • Staffing team is diverse and includes people from participants’ communities
    • Activities are designed to empower participants and meet their needs
    Does the practice have (explicit or implicit) learning objectives?
    		Explicit: Teaching the participants to go through tutorials in an app, and make / programme themselves.
    Is the practice (explicitly or implicitly) connected to school curricula?
    		Yes, implicitly
    If connected in any way to school curricula, which subjects are covered?
    • Biology
    • Computer science
    • Technology
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the engagement / interest of participants with a particular scientific topic, concept, phenomena, theory or career?
    		Yes: Robotics, coding, making
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the attitude of participants with a particular scientific topic, concept, phenomena, theory, or career?
    		Yes: Teaching the participants about fields that are new to them: robotics, coding, making
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the behavior of participants related to a particular scientific topic, concept, phenomena, theory, or career?
    		No
    Does the practice aim to have an impact on the development / reinforcement / practice of skills of participants?
    		Yes: The participants acquired new skills: the older group learned how to programme a robot and how to build it; the younger group learned how to use very simple materials to build a terrarium.
    Additional notes: