Creating Authentic Learning Experiences For All

In a world where access to information is at our fingertips every day, it is our responsibility as humans to unlayer the many moving pieces of what is being presented. When we value the process of a particular story or situation we tend to become our own researchers, we question and discover to better understand the “whole” of the story/information. Through our work as researchers, we will realize that the outcome of a story/situation is dependent upon the interactions and interconnectedness of ideas, solutions, and personal expertise/knowledge that is required in order to solve, explain, or provoke change in how we think and interact with one another. When we consider these multiple lenses and we spend time at the intersection of our human and natural world considering relationships and cause/effect, we discover this overlap is necessary for change and necessary for survival.

This website will provide resources on how to use project based learning to develop authentic learning experiences in the classroom. The materials and resources and examples found on this site will have you think through work in a new lens that will lead to action back in your school(s). 

Finally, as Alvin Toffler states, "The illiterate of the 21st Century are not those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." This experience of exploration of coding, making, building, and tinkering, participants will have to not only learn, but unlearn and relearn how all the essential learning elements go together to create new learning experiences.

A-A-Ron Maurer

Social Media
Personal Blog: www.coffeeforthebrain.com
Twitter: @aaronmaureredu
Instagram: @coffeechug
YouTube: channel
Facebook: Coffee For The Brain

Meet Aaron Maurer, aka “Coffeechug”, a STEM Lead on a mission to bring wonder and play back into the classroom. As the STEM Lead for 21 school districts in Iowa, he helps expand STEM, Computer Science, Authentic Learning, and Purposeful Play into classrooms K-12 for the Mississippi Bend AEA 9. A lifelong learner himself, Aaron is an author of two books, Smart Robotics with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor and Design Innovative Robots with LEGO SPIKE Prime, and a host of impressive professional development credentials, including being a FIRST Certified Trainer, an ISTE Making It Happen Award Winner, a Lego Education Ambassador, a PBS Digital Innovator and All-Star, a PITSCO TAG, a Microsoft Innovator Educator Expert, a Microsft Innovative Educator Fellow, a Minecraft Global Mentor, a Makey Makey Ambassador, and a finalist for the Iowa Teacher of the Year in 2014. He is an avid fan of STEAM, Makerspaces, and Project Based Learning, and of course, coffee. Follow his work on his website, coffeeforthebrain.com.