Members of the Agency by Design Community Reflect on the Maker Ed Convening

Earlier this fall, the Maker Ed Convening was hosted by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this fieldnote post, several members of the Agency by Design community ...

Incorporating Maker-Centered Learning into the Early Years Classroom

Victoria Educational Organisation educator and Head of Curriculum Studies Lisa Golds provides an introduction to the Agency by Design: Early Childhood in the Making initiative a ...

Agency by Design in Translation: Exploring the Complexities of Sharing Maker-Centered Practices Across Cultures

Educators Rita Camargo, Simone Lederman, and Paola Ricci of Instituto Catalisador in São Paulo, Brazil describe their journey towards translating the Agency by Design thinking routines into Po ...

A Take Apart Toolkit: What we learn from unmaking

This piece is the first in a series of Field Notes which can be read as a Take Apart Toolkit of sorts, including how to use Take Aparts to engage in deep analysis, to increase accessibility, to ...

How Can Understanding What We Value as Educators Shape What We Assess in Our Classrooms?

What do we want our learners to be like when they leave our classrooms at the end of the year? What does authentic learning look like in a maker-centered classroom? Your response to these questions ...

Just “Hacking Around”: Bringing New Meaning to a Storied Word

In this blog post, Agency by Design online course instructor Jane Jessep explores the storied meaning of the word “hack” by reflecting on her own experiences “hacking around” in the 196 ...

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. ...

Introducing the 2016-2017 Agency by Design Oakland Fellowship

Brooke Toczylowski, Lead Coordinator and Coach for the Agency by Design Oakland Fellows, provides an overview of the educators who will be partnering with the Agency by Design project as they w ...

Building a Maker Educator Learning Community in Pittsburgh

Guest Author Jeff Evancho, the Project Zero Programming Specialist at the Quaker Valley School District, describes the process of establishing the Pittsburgh Maker Educator Learning Community, ...

When a Ship is not a Ship—It’s a Sabre-toothed Cat! A Story of Maker Empowerment and Collective Agency

Ilya Pratt, AbD Oakland Leadership Team member and Design+Make+Engage program director at Park Day School, tells a tale of maker empowerment and collective agency through the story of Kyle and ...

Setting the Stage: Creating a Maker-Centered Learning Environment through Narration

Students in AbDLC member Tatum Omari’s Class at Cragmont Elementary School in Berkeley, CA use narration and patterned blocks to tell the story of their ideas about complex systems. ...

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. ...

Hacking Simple Systems: The Tale of an Incomplete Soccer Uniform

Oakland Learning Community Tatum Omari’s builds on her experience with system redesign to hack her daughter’s soccer gear. ...

Agency (and Comedy) by Design

North Oakland Charter School Teacher and Agency by Design OLC member Tatum Omari describes how her experiences with power tools and doorknobs expanded her vision of everyday objects. ...

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. ...

Designing and Making with English Language Learners

Thi Bui teaches art and multimedia at Oakland International High School, a public high school for immigrants students’ where command of the English language is one of the last things to ...

A Celebration of Learning

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 educators, administrators, parents, and friends representing communities throughout the East Bay area came together at Studio One Arts Center in Oakland, CA to celebrate ...

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 ...

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 ...

Developing a Sensitivity to the Design of Teacher Learning Communities

A community of teachers and researchers work together in Cambridge, MA and Temescal, CA to learn more about how students understand design in the world. ...