Maker-Centered Learning Empowering Young People to Shape Their Worlds

Maker-Centered Learning provides both a theoretical framework and practical resources for the educators, curriculum developers, librarians, administrators, and parents navigating this burgeoning field. Written by the expert team from the Agency by Design initiative at Harvard's Project Zero, this book

• Identifies a set of educational practices and ideas that define maker-centered learning, and introduces the focal concepts of maker empowerment and sensitivity to design.
• Shares cutting edge research that provides evidence of the benefits of maker-centered learning for students and education as a whole.
• Presents a clear Project Zero-based framework for maker-centered teaching and learning
• Includes valuable educator resources that can be applied in a variety of design and maker-centered learning environments
• Describes unique thinking routines that foster the primary maker capacities of looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity.

A surge of voices from government, industry, and education have argued that, in order to equip the next generation for life and work in the decades ahead, it is vital to support maker-centered learning in various educational environments. Maker-Centered Learning provides insight into what that means, and offers tools and knowledge that can be applied anywhere that learning takes place.

EDWARD P. CLAPP, Ed.D., is Co-Director of Agency by Design and a Research Associate and Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

JESSICA ROSS is a Senior Research Specialist at Project Zero and current Project Manager of Agency by Design.

JENNIFER O. RYAN is Project Manager of the Pedagogy of Play project, and former Project Manager of Agency by Design.

SHARI TISHMAN, Ed.D., is Co-Director of Agency by Design and a Senior Research Associate and Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Acknowledgments ix

List of Tables and Figures xiii

Foreword xix

Introduction 1

What is a Maker? And What is Maker-Centered Learning? 4

A Road Map to the Journey Ahead 8

1 Exploring the Benefits of Maker-Centered Learning 15

Learning from Maker Educators and Thought Leaders 17

Identifying the Real Benefits of Maker-Centered Learning 18

Understanding the Primary Outcomes of Maker-Centered Learning: Developing Agency and Building Character 19

Understanding the Secondary Outcomes of Maker-Centered Learning: Cultivating Discipline-Specific and Maker-Specific Knowledge and Skills 35

Recapping the Real Benefits of Maker-Centered Learning 39

2 Teaching and Learning in the Maker-Centered Classroom 43

Maker-Centered Roots and Connections 45

Who (and What) Are the Teachers in the Maker-Centered Classroom? 51

Students as Teachers 51

Teachers in the Community 55

Online Knowledge Sourcing 56

Tools and Materials as Teachers 57

What Does Teaching Look Like in the Maker-Centered Classroom? 59

Facilitating Student Collaboration 60

Encouraging Co-inspiration and Co-critique 63

Redirecting Authority and the Ethics of Knowledge Sharing 70

What Does Learning Look Like in the Maker-Centered Classroom? 73

Figuring It Out 74

What Does the Maker-Centered Classroom Look Like? 77

Tools and Materials 78

Storage and Visibility 80

Specific and Flexible Spaces 83

3 Developing a Sense of Maker Empowerment 85

What Is Agency? 89

Choice, Intention, and Action 89

Scope: Agency and the Complex Web of Interrelated Actions 91

Locus: Participating in Agentic Action 94

Agency and Maker Empowerment 98

Empowerment and Social Justice 101

Empowerment in Education 103

4 Developing a Sensitivity to Design 109

Developing a Sensitivity to Design in a Consumer-Driven World 111

The Hidden Mechanics of Stuff 112

Living in the Throes of a Throwaway Culture 114

What Is a Sensitivity to Design? 116

How Are Students Sensitive (or Not) to Design? 120

Seeing the Designed World as Malleable 122

5 Maker-Centered Teaching and Learning in Action 127

A Framework for Maker Empowerment 128

Looking Closely 130

Exploring Complexity 133

Finding Opportunity 136

Tools and Techniques for Supporting Maker-Centered Thinking and Learning 141

Dispositional Development and Thinking Routines 142

Developing Thinking Routines to Support a Sensitivity to Design 142

Conclusion 155

Maker-Centered Learning: Challenges and Puzzles 157

Considering the Ethical Dimensions of Maker-Centered Learning 158

Equity and Access in the Maker-Centered Classroom 159

Supporting and Sustaining Maker-Centered Practice 162

Looking Ahead: The Future of Maker-Centered Learning 163

Imagine If. . . 166

Afterword 169

Appendix A: Overview of Interview Participants 173

Appendix B: Thinking Routines 175

Notes 185

References 195

Index 203

About the Authors 223

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