Methodology for educational making activities (I)

“The Maker Movement has crept into the consciousness of schools in the past few years. For some, it’s a wake up call that over-tested, over-scheduled young people are not going to become the creative, enthusiastic learners we all hope to nurture. For others, it’s a personal reconnection to our collective, deeply-felt human impulses to create, invent, and shape the world. Makerspaces, genius hour, design thinking, and other frameworks can help make these ideas come to life in classrooms, libraries, museums, and community centers. But are these innovations accessible to everyone, to every child?”

Sylvia Martínez “How to Build Your Makerspace”

Starting to prototype.

What do we mean by educational making activities?

An educational making activity is one that brings together creative and innovative processes with an educational perspective, emphasising practical learning during the process, and includes, technology in all or some part of the process. It has long been argued that children and youth can learn by playing and building with interesting tools and materials (Montessori, 1912).

These are activities that work under a framework of cooperation, respect for one another, teamwork, inclusion, promotion of creativity, learning by doing and innovation.

Doing and creativity are not new concepts, but focusing learning on doing has introduced a new type of practical pedagogy. A pedagogy that fosters communication, community and collaboration (a DiT mentality “let’s do together”), distributed learning, crossing boundaries and receptive and flexible teaching practices.

Physical creations can also enable social engagement through a shared endeavor. This can bring more- and less-experienced participants together around a common task — a configuration that often proves fruitful for learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978).

We have organised this guide to be based on different areas where particular care must be taken.

• Facilitation: Every activity with learners must have facilitators that encourage the activity to run and achieve its pre-defined goals.
• Environment: Activities are carried out in spaces, but sometimes these spaces are not well-equipped to receive them. Space is important because it helps the activity to develop.
• Materials | Resources: Choosing the materials to develop the activity is key. Working with recycled, reused materials and doing so in a sustainable way with the environment adds values.
• Expendable material: Recycled materials help expand creativity, respect the environment and improve experimentation skills.
• Non expendable material: The non expendable materials are the ones suitable for an activity and that fit the fungible materials that will be used.

Facilitation

“The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge”.

Seymour Papert

Every activity or space has a team behind the scenes that imagines it, prepares it, carries it out and evaluates it. And in some cases, depending on the complexity of the activity’s learning content, this team may also receive the activity from outside facilitators due to their higher level of expertise and understanding of a subject.

Different functions for the facilitators:

• Responsible for programming activities, schedules, etc.
• Responsible for giving the activity or workshop, usually the facilitator, educator.
• Depending on where the activity takes place, there will be personnel responsible for the children or young people who participate in that said location. It is important to involve them as an important part of the process.

Environment

The environment is the place where the activity will take place. An activity of this type can be developed in any environment that meets the logistical needs of the activity. (Sometimes we need electricity, wide spaces for tables, areas for demonstrations…).

Usually these types of activities can be produced and developed in:

• A classroom or space within a cultural center, library or civic center.
• A classroom or space within a school.
• A space within a larger event (Maker Faire, festivals, congresses, etc.).
• A Makerspace (Hackerspace, FabLab…).
• The street (Mini-Maker Faire, demonstrations, Technological Faire’s…).

To choose the space we usually take into account:

• Available plugs, lighting, electricity.
• Tables or spaces for working in groups.
• Workshop area: ensure that it is sufficient for the number of participants, monitors, technical equipment, etc.
• Possibility of organizing the tables or the space according to the dynamics of the workshop.
• Space to organise and take care of the material for the activity.
• Internet or WiFi.
• Number and type of computers.
• Sound equipment, microphones, etc.
• Board.

Materials | Resources

Boys and girls have almost innate creative potential with almost anything, creativity is also a trained skill. Working with different materials and new tools can enable empowerment. At the same time, one must be careful when introducing materials and tools so that they do not become overwhelming.

Raising some educational making activities which focus exclusively on materials or tools can lead us to errors. We must work with efficient, versatile and inspiring materials and tools whose use are well known to us. Recyclable or reusable materials, such as cardboard or building sets, can help us create new interests and provide transformative experiences.

In any activity we can find and use resources and materials donated by the organisation of the event, the institution, civic or cultural centre and complement these with our own resources.

Expendable material

It is the material, whether it is stationary or technical, that by completing the activity will end up creating the final prototype and therefore will be consumed and will need to be replaced for subsequent activities. As an example we mention:

• pens and markers
• papers and cardboards
• post-its, clips, labels
• blue tag, zeal, glue
• clay
• plastic cups
• American tape
• wood, cardboard
• cables
• batteries
• silicone
• battery holder
• mini engines
• LEDs

Non-expendable material

This is the material that is worked with that can be reused in subsequent events / activities. Examples include:

• Welding gun
• Hot silicone gun
• Cables connectors with the computer
• Adapters
• Network cables
• Laity
• Electronics kits: Arduino boards, Makey Makey, etc
• Hard Machines (Dremel, Drill, CNC, 3D printer…).

This methodological guide has been made by the consortium of the European Project, Makerspace for Inclusion Nº 2018-l-BE0S-KA205–002425, with the participation of the following associations:

Digijeunes (France), Timelab (Belgium), Horizonlab (Italy), Nod Makerspace (Romania), MakerConvent-Trànsit Projectes (Spain).