Methodology for educational making activities (III)
Educational Making Activities : Step by step
“The Maker Movement has developed in out-of-school spaces and has mostly involved adult participants, there is growing interest among educators in bringing making into education to enhance opportunities for students to engage in design and engineering practices, specifically, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM, or STEAM when art is included) practices, more generally.”
Educational making activities start from an environment that include; open source resources, affordable electronics and technologies, crowdsourcing and participatory culture, a focus on STEAM education, information access and DiWO methodologies for inclusion.
The environment where the activity takes place can become an aid to the process and motivate expression, creation and communication. A friendly space allows people to explore. Here, we will give some advice on how to create such a space, as well as providing some technical information that can help in the organisation and development of a model activity which are available in the annexes.
Organisation
To organise ourselves well, we must ask ourselves the necessary questions so that all the requirements of our activities are met or resolved, and establish who will be responsible for carrying out each part. Some examples of things to keep in mind include:
- Participants: we must take into account who our participants are. Activities for children or young people are not the same as for adults or the elderly. In any case, people are the key element of every workshop.
- Contents: the workshop activity step by step. Pedagogical program with clear aims and detailed development.
- Calendar: time of preparation, dissemination and realization.
- Place: contact and organisation with the headquarters where the place is given.
- Materials: list of needs, selection of suppliers and place of purchases, sufficient time to obtain the specific materials.
- Budget: personnel, materials, transportation, per diem, etc.
- Communication: communication plan, prior, during and after the activity. Broadcast material, pictures, videos. Have signed authorisation for the use of the images by the participants.
- Documentation: who will take the record of the activity, videos, text and photos, and in what formats.
It is also useful to know what our strengths are to take advantage of them and be aware and prepared for our limitations.
Typologies of event organisations for youth to get together and experience maker education and maker culture
Not all activities have a defined beginning and end. Within the field of educational making we have many different formats that lead to a large variety of possibilities.
Hackathons
A Hackathon is any event in which people get together to engineer solutions to real-life problems, possibly involving technology. Hackathons generally have parallel tracks for educational workshops and/or conferences.
Essentially, during a hackathon, young people can be invited to work in groups (from 2 up to 5 people) on a project of their choice. Usually hackathons last for a whole day (from morning to evening).
Here are some basic goals to keep in mind when organizing a hackathon:
- Be welcoming to newcomers of the community.
- Provide an opportunity for participants to learn something new.
- Provide a space and a time for participants to make headway on problems they are interested in.
The ultimate goal of a hackathon should not be to actually solve any problem as real-life problems are typically too hard to be tackled effectively during such a short period of time.
Instead, hackathons should be thought of as a pit-stop on a long journey to solving these problems or as a training session helping to prepare participants for solving problems in the future.
Here are some useful practical guidelines to follow when setting up a hackathon:
- Low barrier to entry: Attendees should be able to walk in, figure out what’s happening, and be able to quickly find a way to be involved (whatever their threshold for involvement).
- Pro-amateur and pro-expert: Attractive to attendees with different technical skills and of different levels.
- Easy to stay, easy to leave: No one should feel trapped during the event
- Interactive — offline and online: Everyone should have the opportunity to play, build, or otherwise contribute to one or more of the tech-related projects presented (emphasis on everyone), without opening a laptop. (Not everyone would have a laptop with them, nor are laptops perfectly suited for social engagement or essential for all types of tech.)
It is also recommendable to include artistic activities, besides tech-oriented ones.
For one thing, relying on art allows more people to feel included, even those who might feel uncomfortable around technology.
Moreover, exploring the relation between technology and the arts can be informative and inspirational for tech’s potential impact.
When thought of as a variety of methods for creation and expression, art becomes essential for understanding how technology is created and how it could be used.
Maker faires and mini maker faires
A maker faire is an event somewhat along the lines of a science fair. Thus, visitors move around different stations which each introduce a new concept, typically related to maker culture, digital DIY or classic DIY. Users can choose which station they want to visit and dig further into it by engaging with the presenter.
Where maker faires differ from traditional science fairs is the greater degree of interaction between user and presenter. Rather than a one-way learning channel with presenters and presentees, stations at a maker faire are required to be interactive. Some stations are about skill sharing, others invite users to engage with hands-on activities. For example, activities about coding or electronic prototyping are common; whilst others can be more open-ended, providing opportunities to contribute data, or be a maker.
Makerspace / Fablab : Ephemeral places
Ephemeral places can refer to a facility/set of equipment or to a scenario in which a public space (can be any place) is temporarily turned into a makerspace-like environment.
Transforming a classroom, a civic centre or any other public space into a makerspace for a short period of time can serve to gather young people together and help them to experience maker education.
At an ephemeral makerspace, users are invited to drop in to experiment with cnc machines, computer aided design and other tech-related activities. The objectives of such spaces are typically to give participants a taste of what sort of activities/projects are possible to undertake at a fablab or makerspace.
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).
