TinkerTime is an initiative of Mount Annan Christian College for our Primary Students, Prep to Year 6. Our focus is to create an environment for students to explore, design and create.
Learning is inquiry and play based, so that the engagement levels of students is high. Real world problems allow each student to develop their design thinking. Design Thinking is a structured way of solving problems, leading to a refinement of ideas through feedback. The feedback is then used to improve the quality of the work or artifact.
Students will collaborate and share their ideas with one another, they also share their work with a broader audience.
This is the opportunity for our Tinker-bots to develop their ideas by becoming innovators and inventors. They have access to school resources such as laser cutting, 3D printing, robots and computer programming.
TinkerTime aims to promote…
- Inquiry based learning
- Collaborative, Fun, Engaging and Relevant learning opportunities
- Space for producing, presenting and refining
- Includes STEM_ed and Design Thinking strategies.
Tinkertime Plus
An example of TinkerTime in action in Prep…
Here at MACC we have devised our own Design Thinking Approach for Early Childhood. It is called Plan, Make, Play.
This process is incorporated into day to day learning. One day our Prep teachers discovered students creating a bridge over the Prep sandpit using a plank of wood they found nearby. The students dug a hole underneath the plank, filled it with water and asked other students to come and test it out. Little engineers!
Based of this observation of student interest the Prep TinkerTable was set out to be a place for students to plan and design their very own bridges, which were then built using various recycled materials. The little MACC engineers thought about the kind of materials that would be used to build the bridge, the style of bridge, who would use the bridge, its length and surrounding land.
Our Prep teachers said, “It is amazing seeing our youngest College students test ideas, problem solve, explore different materials and use their fine motor skills!”.