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What’s the value of making?
Hi! This is the first in a series of MiniBlogs – blog posts straight from the MiniMaker warehouse in Vancouver. I’m Jin – your new curriculum developer, and I love to MAKE.
(That’s probably why I’m here!)
I’m a teacher, an education assistant, and currently pursuing my Master’s in Curriculum and Pedagogy. A lot of this blog will draw from storied, anecdotal evidence, but that’s what makes teaching and learning great.
Making Early
I grew up in the early days of personal computers – back when websites still had warnings (ask your parents before you go online!) and computer labs had to be booked for whole-class typing practice. Our family computer was in my dad’s office, and I got limited computer time every day – so while my days were filled with Neopets and Mattel games, I also had to do a lot of “analogue” play.
My mom taught me how to sew and I made a lot of doll clothes. I made my first plushie/keychain thing when I was 9! I even made my own pencil case at some point. I was also always drawing, always trying to make things in the garden, and always trying out new crafts from books borrowed from the library.
This is all to say – I’m only a maker today because I started early. I learned a lot about learning and doing and learning to do in those early years – and it’s so interesting now to see those experiences reflected in learning theories. It makes me wonder what personal experiences those theorists were thinking about when they talk about “Playrooms and games, animals and plants, wood and nails” (Patri, 1917) or “invention as the highest form of understanding” (Piaget, 1976).
Learning by experimenting (safely!)
When I worked at a K-12 IB school, I was quickly introduced to the IB Learner Profile Traits. Being a carer, thinker, open-minded, communicator – these all overlapped quite nicely with the BC Core Competencies. Both the IB Learner Profile and the BC Core Competencies are meant to teach learning dispositions, and promote metacognition: getting kids to think about how they’re thinking (Project Zero, 2022; Papert, 2005).
But the trait that stood out most to me was being a risktaker. The concept of risktaking was fascinating to me! I loved the idea of asking kids to jump (metaphorically AND physically) because they could – and being able to provide that safety net for them if they fell. Because, knowing it was okay to try gave them confidence to do it again. It’s another form of “learning from your mistakes” – but “risktaking” sounds so much cooler (in my opinion).
I think teaching kids to take risks also includes being safe about it. Kids will make mistakes as they grow. That’s a given – we all do! But letting them explore in low-stakes situations – where their social status or grades aren’t at risk – is where community spaces really come in handy.
If every kid could take safe risks early in scary situations, we can create a culture of self-efficacy, resilience, and capability – instead of learned helplessness or weaponized incompetence, maybe we’d have more adults that explicitly ask for help because they realize there’s no shame in that. That’s part of risk taking too – knowing where and when to use that safety net.
That’s where MAKING comes into play. Making – especially “analogue” play – gets kids experimenting with tools and materials. They get to play with viscous mediums instead of just learning the word. They get to be messy and use “scary” tools – like a drill or a boxcutter. They get to say “I made this!” And that’s the dream – next time they’re in class learning about surface area and perimeter, they get to think about the time they built a miniature playground and had to ask for enough popsicle sticks to make a fence to surround it.
And that’s just the beginning
Next post, I get to dive deep into the value of hands-on, experiential, and applied learning. The best learning starts with willing and open minds: I think we can all agree that learning stuck when we were interested in what we were hearing about. But more learning happens when doing happens as well.
References
IBO (n.d.) Learner Profile Traits.
Martinez, S. (2019). Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. 2nd ed. Constructing Modern Knowledge Press.
Papert, S. (2005). You can’t think about thinking without thinking about thinking about something. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 5(3), 366-367.
Patri, A. (1917). A schoolmaster of the great city. NY: Macmillan.
Piaget, J. (1976). To understand is to invent: The future of education (G. A. Roberts, Trans.): Penguin Books.
Project Zero. (2022) PZ’s Thinking Routines Toolbox. https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines
