Fourth-grade English learner students at Wilson Elementary School in Sanger, Calif.
Credit: PAT MAIO / EDSOURCE TODAYFourth-grade English learner students at Wilson Elementary School in Sanger, Calif.
Educators are finding that the new “makerspace” movement – a strategy to teach K-12 students science, math and technology through hands-on activities – is providing the added benefit of helping English learners become more proficient in the language.
In makerspaces, students gather a few times a week in a separate classroom, library or museum for a group project using such technologies and materials as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, textiles, wood and wires to construct robots and other electronic gadgets. The teaching technique has been around since the early 2000s, and educators have applauded the idea for helping teach science,…
