What Might It Take to Make Thinking a Crucial and Visible Aspect of Our Maker-Centered Classroom?

Thinking and Learning in a Maker-Centered Classroom online course co-instructor Julie Rains describes her self-imposed creativity cha ...

Taking Apart to Build Stories of Change

This piece is based on a workshop titled “Taking Apart Racism: Using Maker-Centered Practices to Break Down Systems of Oppression,” led by Jaime Chao Mignano and Mark Perkins at t ...

Agency by Design Oakland: 2018-2019 Fellowship Update: The Intersection of Making, Repair, and Teacher Inquiry

Agency by Design Oakland Senior Leader Ilya Pratt provides an update on the Agency by Design Oakland Fellowship program, with an emphasis on the social justice and healing power o ...

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 ...

Making Across the Curriculum Takes Off in DC

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

Cultivating Relationships with Makers Within Our Communities

Members of the Agency by Design: Early Childhood in the Making team visited the Boston Mini Maker Faire at the Boston Children's Museum to learn more about the work of maker ...

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 ...

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 ...

Developing Professional Learning Communities to Support Maker-Centered Learning

AbD Senior Practitioner Jessica Ross discusses the role of professional learning communities in supporting the work of maker-centered educators. ...

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. ...

Introducing the AbDLC

On November 15, 2014, the Agency by Design research project initiated a national learning community of 30+ maker and design educators. In this post, AbD research Edward Clapp introduces the Age ...

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. ...