An easy reference handout of the Agency by Design Framework for Maker-Centered Learning.
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activities and practicesThe Elaboration Game
The Elaboration Game
This practice is designed to deepen learners’ sensitivity to design through drawing, observing, questioning, and collaborating.
thinking routinesParts, People, Interactions - Adapted for Early Childhood Education
Parts, People, Interactions - Adapted for Early Childhood Education
This routine encourages learners to slow down and look closely at a system. It helps them notice that there are different people who participate in the system and that they participate in different ways. It also encourages students to explore how one change in a system can impact the rest of the system. This thinking routine can help foster curiosity as children notice details, ask questions, make connections, and identify topics for future inquiry. It also helps children practice systems thinking.
thinking routines“联系互动” 的思考模式 (简体版）
“联系互动” 的思考模式 (简体版）
这个思考模式鼓励学生能够慢下来，仔细观察其中一个系统。通过这样帮助学生更好地认识具体系统里无论是直接或间接相关的人物，学生也会注意到系统里任何一点变化，也许都会有意无意地影响到系统的其它方面。
thinking routinesParts, People, Interactions
Parts, People, Interactions
This thinking routine helps learners slow down and look closely at a system. In doing so, young people are able to situate objects within systems and recognize the various people who participate—directly or indirectly—within a particular system.
activities and practicesObservational Drawing
Observational Drawing
This practice allows learners to notice features of an object that they may not have the vocabulary to fully describe yet. By doing several sketches, learners have the chance to engage in perspective taking and to see details they might miss at first glance.
Field NoteMaking Circuits Work: A Learning Journey
Making Circuits Work: A Learning Journey
Agency by Design researcher Jessica Ross explores circuitry by engaging in a hands-on journey to build a flashing LED light from scratch.
Field NoteMaker – Person, Identity, or Culture?
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.
thinking routinesPlaying Around With Roles
Playing Around With Roles
Engaging young learners in exploring complexity and finding opportunities to make systems better requires perspective taking and empathy. Role playing can be a powerful approach to support learners in taking others’ perspectives when exploring the roles, ideas, and feelings of different characters in a system. Here we offer a few thoughts on how to leverage children’s natural desire to play and how to employ different thinking routines to foster perspective taking and empathy. This tool is intended as a starting point and does not need to be followed step by step or happen all at once.