Mechanical dissections are a practice that allows learners to discover the often hidden design of objects.
Activities & Practices
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videosLooking Closely: A Capacity of Sensitivity to Design
Looking Closely: A Capacity of Sensitivity to Design
Students from King Middle School in Portland, Maine, explain the importance of looking closely in a maker-centered classroom.
Video by Alex Coppola
pictures of practiceMaker Empowerment and Resourcefulness
Maker Empowerment and Resourcefulness
A practice that promotes the capacity of looking closely is the Elaboration Game. This picture of practice essay shares a version that was adapted by educator Tatum Omari for a group of young learners to examine a tortilla press during their unit of study about bread making.
documentation and assessment toolsMaking Moves: One Page Guide
Making Moves: One Page Guide
The AbD Making Moves are a set of observable or actionable “moves” that learners and educators can use to help design maker-centered learning experiences, and to support, observe, document, and assess maker-centered learning.
publicationsThe Inquiry Cycle in Action
The Inquiry Cycle in Action
The Agency by Design Inquiry Cycle has been designed to support educators in the processes of designing, documenting, assessing, and reflecting on maker-centered learning. This tool was collaboratively developed over time, and formally prototyped with cohorts of maker educators in two locations: Oakland, California, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this paper, Agency by Design researchers Jessica Ross and Edward P. Clapp loosely use the structure of the Inquiry Cycle to describe the iterative process of developing this tool, along with some suggested implications for practice. Throughout the piece, we share the experiences of our teacher partners as they grappled with this tool—tweaking, hacking, and remixing it—as they explored its potential for designing, documenting, assessing, and reflecting upon their work in the maker-centered classroom.
Field NoteA Culture (and Economy) of Making and Sharing
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 culture?
documentation and assessment toolsDocumentation Templates
Documentation Templates
This tool is connected to the Agency by Design Making Moves. The Making Moves identifies three maker capacities that support a sensitivity to design, along with their associated learning moves. Here you’ll find three observation sheets, one for each of the maker capacities: Looking Closely, Exploring Complexity, and Finding Opportunity.
videosAgency by Design: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds
Agency by Design: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds
"Agency by Design: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds" explores the ways in which educators can develop teaching strategies that support student agency through maker-centered learning experiences.
Video by Alex Coppola
Field NoteUnderstanding Agency Part II: Putting an Abstract Concept into Action
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.