Sonoma County Office of Education

21C Blog: Why We Need Maker Education

Why We Need Maker Education

Author: Matt O'Donnell
Published: 10.14.15

 

I few weeks ago I accompanied Anna Van Dordrecht, SCOE's Teacher-on-Loan for Science, and her AP Biology Class from Maria Carillo High School on a field trip to Medtronic in Santa Rosa.  Medtronic is a medical technology and services company with more than 85,000 employees worldwide and $9.4 billion in revenue last year.  There are about 950 employees in Santa Rosa where Medtronic's vascular division makes coronary stents and stent graft systems for treating artery disease.

Throughout the field trip it was evident how important 21st century and maker skills were for Medtronic's employees.  Prototypes were being produced on 3d printers and teams of engineers were collaborating on iterations of product designs with people across the world.  We asked one of Medtronic's engineers to share how he uses these skills at Medtronic and why they are important for students to learn.  

21C Blog

Leilan, Student
"I like Amarosa because there's a much smaller student count and so teachers can be one-on-one with you. They can actually help you and be one-on-one with you while the class is doing something else. I feel like that's a huge game-changer." - Leilan, Student