UTeach Maker Physics

The Maker Movement, publicized by Make Magazine and Maker Faires now happening across the US, has begun to make inroads into STEM education. Maker Spaces, where students have access to technological tools and a safe environment in which to create, are appearing in many public schools and other locations accessible to teachers. A recent Noyce teacher preparation grant to the UTeach program at the University of Texas at Austin aims to investigate the effect of incorporating Making into pre-service teacher education. I will report on the incorporation of a Maker strand into a class using the University of Washington Physics by Inquiry curriculum (McDermott et al., 1996). I used a project-developed framework and rubric to evaluate the Maker projects and will present a first look at the effect on student learning of optics and circuits.