Truth and Historical Amendment: Critical Mending in the Classroom

Jaime Chao Mignano is a Senior Practitioner Specialist on the JusticexDesign (JxD) project, and an ongoing leader in the project's conception and development, including developing too ...

JusticexDesign: Developing a Sensitivity to Designed Injustices

Banner image courtesy of Agnes Gómez and her 5th grade students at Sacred Heart School (School year: 2019-2020). Agency by Design and Justice ...

Developing Perspective Taking through Maker-Centered Learning: Sneak Peek at the Early Childhood in the Making Playbook

Hi! I’m Vic, and I’m really excited to tell you about the awesome work that early childhood teachers in Hong Kong have been doing as part of the ...

Making Across the Curriculum Takes Off in DC

Educators Jim Reese, Carole Geneix, and Jaime Chao Mignano describe how the Agency by ...

Noise as a Maker Practice

Former Project Zero Artist in Residence Peter Woods describes the ways in which noise music may be understood as a form of maker practice. ...

Framing a Value-based Approach to Documentation and Assessment for Maker-Centered Learning

Synthesizing recent conversations between AbD and the Oakland Leadership Team, AbD researcher Andrea Sachdeva proposes a values-based stance on documentation and assessment in maker-centered le ...

Launching a New Phase of Research for Agency by Design: Exploring Documentation and Assessment Strategies for the Maker-Centered Classroom

The Agency by Design team announces a new phase of research: exploring documentation and assessment strategies to support maker empowerment across all learning environments. ...

Exploring Complexity in Qualitative Research: Designing a System for Collaborative Analysis

Agency by Design research assistant Sarah May explores the complex nature of working with qualitative data based on her experiences collaboratively coding and analyzing AbD’s interview transc ...

Maker – Person, Identity, or Culture?

Agency by Design project manager Jen Ryan examines the use of the word maker and offers an alternative reframing for an emerging field. ...

Tinkering Towards a Definition of Tinkering

How do you define tinkering? In this post, Agency by Design principal investigator Shari Tishman tinkers towards a definition of tinkering that considers standard text book definitions, example ...

Reconsidering Failure in Maker-Centered Learning

Agency by Design researcher Edward Clapp questions the use of the word failure in maker-centered learning, especially as making activities begin to find their way into schools where “failing� ...

Looking Forward and Looking Back on AbD’s Action Research with the OLC

As AbD moves into a new phase of action research, Jessica Ross reflects on the project’s work with the Oakland Learning Community. ...

Exploring the Role of the Arts in Maker-Centered Learning Experiences

Participants at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum consider the role of the arts in maker-centered learning experiences. ...

Curiosities, Collections, and Curating: Considering Maker Portfolios

AbD researcher Jessica Ross elaborates on her role in the Open Portfolio Project by asking the question: What advice can we offer young makers as they document their making throughout their lif ...

Maker Empowerment Revisited

Agency by Design Principal Investigator Shari Tishman takes a dispositional approach to redefining “maker empowerment.” ...

A TEDx Talk about the Maker Mind: Why Having a Sensitivity to Design Matters

Agency by Design project manager Jen Ryan describes her experience discussing the “maker mind” at TEDxDirigo. ...

From Maker Space to Maker Campus

Boston-based architect David Stephen discusses his experiences developing “Maker Campus Master Plans” with various members of Agency by Design’s Oakland Learning Community. ...

Maker Empowerment in the Making!

Oakland Learning Community member Ilya Pratt describes her experiences working with the concept of “Maker Empowerment” at a recent Agency by Design workshop in Oakland, CA. ...

Maker Empowerment: A Concept Under Construction

Agency by Designer project Director Shari Tishman introduces the concept of “maker empowerment” as a potential outcome of maker learning experiences. ...

Understanding Agency Part II: Putting an Abstract Concept into Action

AbD researchers describe how their use of agency “vignettes” help them gain new understandings around the concept of agency. ...

Maker Movement in the Media

Agency by Design researchers have undertaken a review of scholarly literature to further our understandings of the various concepts connected to our study. ...

Understanding Agency Part I: What is Agency?

Part one of a series of posts on the concept of agency, this post asks the fundamental question: what is agency? ...

Making Space Happen in K-12 Schools

What can K-12 schools do to establish design thinking and maker spaces on their campuses? In this blog post, AbD team member Wendy Donner discusses the ways in which two schools in Oakland are ...

The Maker Mind: Taking a Closer Look at the Way Makers’ Minds Work

How do makers make meaning of their making? What are the cognitive capacities associated with making? Flux Foundation artists and educators Jess Hobbs and Catie Magee introduce us to the “mak ...

A Culture (and Economy) of Making and Sharing

The maker movement is no doubt still trending. But what’s driving this resurgence in the inclination to make? And is it a part of a larger socio/economic shift to a shared, participatory cult ...

Identifying Core Outcomes of Maker and Design Thinking Education: Fostering a Sense of “I Can Do That!”

The Agency by Design team has been searching for answers to the big question: “What are the core outcomes of maker and design thinking educational experiences?” Bruce Hamren at the Athenian ...