MakerEdTheWhy

There are a myriad of reasons to implement
                    Maker Centered Learning - MakerEd - MakerSpaces.
Different reasons speak to different people.
Here are some...though I might need a part 2.

It is not a new thing that you are going to add to what you are currently doing. It is a shift in how you are doing things. It is an approach to learning, with making at the focus and lots of discussions around it. These discussions allow the student to come at it from their perspective, so it is naturally student centered. It allows them opportunities for voice & choice, since there are so many materials and tools that can be utilized and integrated. Making and the discussions around it help us get to know each other better, our passions and talents and wishes.

It also easily lends itself to PBL and being trans-curricular, a mashing up of the disciplines so you dont know where one starts and the other leaves off (we need to get rid of silos). It very easily weaves ideas together in real life context. Measurement never really means much until you have to build something that has to go/stay together or fit somewhere. When they master something, they want to share that new found skill. In a Maker Centered environment, everyone is a learner and everyone is a teacher. Kids love creating things to help others and make the world better. 

MakerEd is a mashup of ideas from some education icons :
-Montessori : Child-centered, Individualized learning, Integrated curriculum, Hands on learning, Multi age groupings
-Dewey : classroom democracy, learning relevant to lives , learning by doing, practical life skills
-Vygotsky : collaborative nature of learning, social interaction
-Papert : using computers (technology/tools) as instruments for learning and for enhancing creativity and innovation , constructionist theories
-Piaget : children build their own knowledge, mistakes are used by children to discover errors and self correct

And skills that we want kids to have to thrive in life...Maker Centered Learning helps those :

Curiosity

Critical thinking

Collaboration

Communication

Creativity

Community

Innovation

Entrepreneurship

Persistence in problem solving

Personal Agency

Flexibility & Adaptability

Productivity & Accountability

We are all born makers.