Making is in our name! And “making” isn’t just STEAM – and STEAM isn’t just coding and robotics. Every provincial curriculum across Canada has it – albeit named differently in each province – and emphasizes the value of learning through hands-on making.
Defining Learning
To an extent, everyone defines “learning” a little bit differently. Sometimes it means memorizing facts, and other times it means applying skills. Sometimes you “learn” by just absorbing information in a lecture as it’s disseminated to you – sometimes you learn by processing the information you were given.
Something used by K-12 educators a lot is Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956). Since its initial conception, it’s undergone some changes:
And again in 2024, with the release of accessible GenAI tools like ChatGPT:
Bloom’s is great for sorting questions and actions that kids do in the classroom. Higher-order thinking (the more demanding stuff for your brain) sits at the top of the pyramid, and the lower-order thinking pieces stay at the bottom. That’s not to say that remembering and understanding isn’t necessary, but look at the way technology has transformed things like simple mathematics and spelling through calculators and auto-correct.
At MiniMakers, we specifically focus on the learning that happens when kids are creating and applying. Sometimes it takes a couple of extra steps – understanding or remembering first – but the making – the hands-on piece – should always get done.
(And while GenAI CAN do some of these things too, it can never use YOUR lived experience to create and analyze through your personal lens!)
Defining Making
Since the dawn of humanity, we’ve experimented with different materials to make different things. We’ve played with oolichan grease to make candles, and obsidian to make tools. Animal bones get carved into needles and awls and whale blubber gets made into buoys.
I don’t think “making” should be restricted to just assembling robots and developing games and watching a 3D printer print a file you find on Thingiverse – it should also include getting your hands dirty and sometimes – taking risks with new tools to find something new. Like using a hot glue-gun to make 3D embroidery, or using an ink stain to make a fascinating cat caricature.
Hands-On Thinking
Gone are the days of information dissemination and memorization. And maybe that can be good – having kids spend most of the class time actually doing things sounds a lot more engaging – and fun – than spending 60 minutes being talked at. And half the time, kids are looking at their phones or daydreaming.
It’s hard to be asleep when your hands are the ones that need to be moving.
It’s why so many kids thrive when they can think with their hands – problem-solving by building Lego, practicing computational thinking by completing multi-step projects, and practicing developing educated opinions by assembling a physical timeline to identify the most significant events (in their opinion) leading to the French Revolution.
And it’s okay to make a mess or experiment along the way. In fact, iterative design is the basis of a lot of things, including writing an essay (writing an outline and draft), creating a painting (sketching and rendering), and building a house (drafting, modelling, and testing materials).
In essence, making to learn is about empowering children to connect knowledge with action — to transform ideas into tangible outcomes through curiosity, creativity, and experimentation. When students use their hands, they engage their minds in deeper, more meaningful ways, developing not only technical skills but also confidence, resilience, and critical thinking.
Jin is currently reading:
“When we encourage children to build with sand, blocks, paint, and glue, we are simply asking them to take what they know about science and apply it to the real world. In the truest sense, children are natural engineers and we can create classrooms that celebrate this fact.”
Excerpt From Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom (Martinez, Sylvia Libow & Stager, Gary)