MAET: The Program that Built Me
MAET: The Program that Built Me
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I wasn’t one of those people who dreamed of becoming a teacher their whole life. From ages nine to eighteen I wanted to be an engineer because of my incredible experience in FIRST Robotics. (Before that my dream career was a stand up comedian astronaut, which I still think would have been pretty cool.) It wasn’t until my first year of undergrad that I realized I enjoyed mentoring others more than I enjoyed doing the designing myself.
Through my undergraduate studies I learned the fundamentals of pedagogy, but I always felt like something was missing. I had learned a lot in school as a kid, yet my most meaningful learning experiences came from extracurriculars, spaces where curiosity, creativity, and collaboration were at the center. That contrast made me wonder what school could look like if those same conditions existed in the classroom.
Few things get me as excited as a robot does. Photo Credits: Daniel J Ernst
While working with a professor in MSU’s Physics Education Research Lab I was introduced to a term that finally connected these ideas: computational thinking. It felt like the missing piece I had been searching for, a way to merge my love of problem solving with my passion for teaching. At the time, though, I only understood it on the surface. I didn’t yet know how to apply it meaningfully in my own practice. That is what led me to pursue the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program.
When I started the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program, I was looking for something that would help me connect my interests in problem solving, technology, and teaching. CEP 833, Creativity in K–12 Computing, was my first class and it completely changed how I thought about STEM education. It introduced me to tools like Scratch, Microbit, Sonic Pi, and Open Processing, and helped me see creativity as more than just art. Creativity is creation and problem solving that is novel, effective, and whole. CEP 800, Psychology of Learning in Schools and Other Settings, helped me understand why the learning that happens outside of school can be so powerful. The ideas of constructivism and constructionism helped me see why hands on and interest driven learning experiences matter so much. CEP 814, Computational Thinking for K–12 Educators, helped me take what used to feel like a broad concept and make it concrete in my own teaching. Each course explored a different aspect of learning and teaching, but together they helped me build a comprehensive understanding of how people learn and how I can design learning experiences that matter.
Before taking CEP 833 I viewed STEM as learning how to code in traditional ways like JavaScript, Mindstorms, Python, or LabVIEW, learning science concepts, learning math, and building robots. The real world STEM connections I showed my students were usually about nature, familiar technology, or careers in fields like engineering. I only wanted to teach STEM or science classes because it felt like the only place where I could pursue those interests. Sonic Pi and Open Processing showed me how music, art, and code can combine to make something beautiful, and that it is okay to explore just to explore. Scratch introduced me to the vast possibilities of storytelling through code. This class is important to me because I did not end up becoming a science or STEM teacher, I teach fifth grade. Having this class allows me to find fulfillment in teaching ELA because I now have a whole new understanding of creativity and the arts. I encourage students to find ways to use technology to express their ideas and creativity in assessments. I now give my students optional subject specific Scratch coding challenges that allow them to code to demonstrate their understanding of concepts in ELA, math, and science. It is many of my students’ favorite activity and motivator for working efficiently. Students who are hesitant about ELA feel more confident because they get to blend it with their STEM knowledge, and students who are hesitant in science feel more confident because I allow them to express their ideas creatively using choice boards. The curiosity and creativity I explored in CEP 833 laid the foundation for thinking more deeply about how students learn, which I explored further in CEP 800.
I had taken educational psychology classes prior and was honestly bored by them. I am not super interested in psychology, so much so that this class did not have me hooked at the beginning. Two of our major projects changed my mindset when it came to psychology. The first was when I was tasked with making a blog post about how educational psychology relates to out-of-school learning. This piqued my interest as someone who is passionate about out-of-school learning experiences. I was able to connect these concepts to constructivism, constructionism, and social learning theory. I already felt that these were impactful, and now I have done direct reflection that uses these psychological theories to back up my feelings. Creating my theory of learning allowed me to synthesize all of the things from the course that I thought were important and gave me space to bring in other interests like trauma-informed care.
My students doing some out-of-school learning on our trip to Tollgate Farms!
I now use what I learned to inform my students on how their brain works to empower them. I talk with my students about why multitasking does not work, why I teach in certain ways, and I explicitly teach about executive functioning. When I explain multitasking, I connect it to information processing theory and how our brain uses sensory memory. I tell them that iconic memory holds visual information for only a fraction of a second and echoic memory holds sounds for just a few seconds longer, so when we switch tasks, we lose details our brain was still processing. This helps students realize that multitasking actually slows them down because their working memory has to restart each time they refocus. I also make a point to explain why I structure activities as inquiry-based experiences, where students explore, ask questions, and solve problems, so they see how their own curiosity and investigation connect to how their brain learns best. When we discuss executive functioning, we practice goal-setting, planning, and reflection so students can recognize their own learning patterns and build confidence in managing their work.
CEP 814, Computational Thinking for K–12 Educators, was one of my last MAET courses, and it allowed me to finally take a deep dive into computational thinking. I had learned about computation in previous classes, but until this course I could not fully grasp all that computational thinking entails or put it meaningfully into practice. Each two-week unit focused on one specific aspect, including algorithms, decomposition, patterns and generalization, abstraction, automation, modeling, and simulation. In each module we completed a coding project using Microsoft MakeCode and then designed a lesson that could be implemented in our own classroom context. By the end of the course, I not only had a deep understanding of these skills, but also a collection of activities that my students love to do. Framing my instruction through a computational thinking lens has transformed the way I teach and has increased student confidence in problem-solving activities. I no longer assume that students naturally know how to break down problems or notice patterns; I explicitly teach these skills and see their confidence grow. The impact of this course extended beyond my classroom as well. I presented on using AI to scaffold problem-solving strategies and self-management for students during project-based learning to 250 educators at the Oakland Schools Human Centered AI: Leading with Purpose, Innovating with Impact event.
A screencap from the Zoom presentation!
Curiosity to Classrom
Curiosity to Classrom
I took this program at a pivotal time in my teaching career. I began it during student teaching and completed it during my first and second years of teaching. During student teaching I followed "I do, we do, you do" without fail, but now I am able to give students the tools to dive in and learn on their own. This program has truly built me as an educator and helped me blossom into someone confident not just to teach my students, but also to share learning with other professionals. Teaching and learning are complicated, but I now have the computational thinking skills to design meaningful activities and problem solve, as well as the psychology background to inform my practice. These new skills allow me to contribute to my school community in a way that I could never have dreamed before completing the inquiry cycles I did during my time in this program.
All of my courses, even those outside of the three I highlight here, have allowed me to learn through inquiry and follow my interests, whether it was researching gifted learners, improving my ELA practice, or becoming more proficient in coding on Scratch. CEP 833 helped me reimagine creativity and see how students can express themselves in novel, effective, and whole ways. CEP 800 gave me the tools to understand why students learn best through hands-on and interest-driven experiences and empowered me to teach them about how their brains work. CEP 814 helped me turn computational thinking from a broad idea into concrete classroom practice, building students’ problem-solving and self-management skills.
Finishing my student teaching (with a guest apperance from grandma)!
Reflecting on these experiences, I can see how each course contributed to the teacher I am today and how I approach learning in my classroom. Through my "shopping like a computer scientist" activity, students learned about decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and algorithm design and were able to see how pivotal these skills are in daily life by simulating a grocery shopping trip. In an algorithm activity, students learned how they can create their own personal algorithms to streamline their lives and build executive functioning. In a decomposition lesson, students practiced breaking down a project description and creating a checklist to help them succeed. These experiences show me that students not only engage with content more deeply when they see its relevance, but also build skills that support problem solving, planning, and self-management across subjects.
Moving forward, I want to continue exploring and applying frameworks for building thinking classrooms, and more explicitly teach computer science skills. I will continue to direct my own learning using the Explore, Create, and Share cycle, and pair that framework with TPACK to design the best possible experiences for my students. I hope to continue sharing what I have learned with colleagues, using my experience to inspire inquiry-based teaching and problem-solving in others. This program has shown me that growth as an educator is ongoing, that teaching is both art and science, and that I am capable of creating learning environments where students are confident, curious, and empowered to think deeply.
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