A set of questions for students and educators that support critical inquiry and awareness when approaching human-designed objects and systems.

A set of questions for students and educators that support critical inquiry and awareness when approaching human-designed objects and systems.
This practice promotes noticing, play, and exploration. When learners have time to tinker with materials they can gain an understanding of the affordances, possibilities, and constraints inherent in a variety of making materials.
Esta rutina anima a los estudiantes a considerar las diferentes perspectivas de diversas personas que interactúan dentro de un sistema en particular.
This routine encourages divergent thinking by prompting students to think of new possibilities for an object or system. It can also encourage convergent thinking by giving students a basis from which to narrow down their ideas so they can redesign or hack an object or a system. Ultimately, this thinking routine is about finding opportunity and pursuing new ideas.
Participants at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum consider the role of the arts in maker-centered learning experiences.
Agency by Design project manager Jen Ryan describes her experience discussing the “maker mind” at TEDxDirigo.
A protocol for looking critically at content and developing a sensitivity to the role(s) of power and participation in the design of objects and systems.
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.
Mechanical dissections are a practice that allows learners to discover the often hidden design of objects.