This practice supports co-inspiration and the cross-pollination of ideas during maker-centered group work.
Activities & Practices
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activities and practicesTake Apart
Take Apart
Mechanical dissections are a practice that allows learners to discover the often hidden design of objects.
activities and practicesVoice and Choice: The Protocol
Voice and Choice: The Protocol
A protocol for looking closely at content, considering perspectives and representation, and then redesigning or reimagining that content from one's own perspective. Try out the accompanying Learner Workbook!
activities and practicesDesign Hunt
Design Hunt
This practice first encourages learners to observe the world around them and look for design, “in the wild,” taking a broad inventory of the designs they notice. Then it asks them to focus in on one object or system to consider the designer’s perspective or to propose redesign ideas.
thinking routinesPartes, Personas, Interacciones
Partes, Personas, Interacciones
Esta rutina de pensamiento ayuda a los estudiantes a ir lentamente y observar de cerca un sistema.
Field NoteMaker Empowerment in the Making!
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.
thinking routinesThink, Feel, Care
Think, Feel, Care
This routine encourages learners to consider the different and diverse perspectives held by the various people who interact within a particular system.
Field NoteHow Can Understanding What We Value as Educators Shape What We Assess in Our Classrooms?
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 might be an indicator of what type of learning you value as a teacher. Inspired by Carlina Rinaldi and her writing on the relationship between documentation and assessment, we used these questions to identify what types of learning or dispositions teachers value most within their contexts. Think of it as a lens for looking at learning. What we quickly realized is that the values educators bring to their work have implications connected to assessment.
publicationsIdentifying What Matters
Identifying What Matters
In this essay, leaders of the Agency by Design Pittsburgh network Peter Wardrip, Jeffrey Evancho, and Annie McNamarra describe their process of pursuing documentation and assessment strategies for maker-centered learning that are based on the values educators bring to their work in schools and other settings. Using the metaphor of big rocks and little rocks as introduced by Steven Covey, the authors describe the process of identifying one’s values and documenting and assessing student learning from the perspective of one’s values. They then articulate the lessons they have learned and their suggestions for moving forward. The core findings that emerge from this work are: (a) identifying one’s values is challenging, (b) documentation requires practice, (c) one’s values are linked to one’s content, and (d) visibility supports measurement.