{"id":2386,"date":"2014-01-06T09:34:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T17:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nwp.org\/educatorinnovator\/?p=2386"},"modified":"2014-01-06T09:34:21","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T17:34:21","slug":"youth-maker-spaces-and-staff-development-a-letter-from-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/youth-maker-spaces-and-staff-development-a-letter-from-thailand\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth Maker Spaces and Staff Development: A Letter from Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"

By K-Fai Steele, first posted at MakerJawn<\/a><\/p>\n

Libraries and museums across the United States are building youth maker spaces and programming in an effort to broaden free, community-embedded educational opportunities. However, the tech enthusiasts who are championing the programming comprise a small percentage of library or museum staff. Many remain skeptical or unconvinced; they may already be stretched too thin in their job, or they may think of 3D printers as a fad that doesn\u2019t relate to traditional librarianship. I discovered that teachers at the Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning (DSIL)<\/a> in Bangkok, Thailand expressed the same concerns as librarians in Philadelphia, when I visited last week with researchers from Stanford University\u2019s Transformative Learning Technologies Lab (TLTL)<\/a>. The 3-day workshop introduced teachers to the tools in the FabLab through a project-based approach, and I met many teachers who had concerns about the FabLab\u2019s relevance to their own curricula. The workshop helped to alleviate many of their concerns, and enabled them to see how the FabLab could be used as a tool to enhance their classroom. At the Free Library of Philadelphia, we are running a similar 1-day workshop with the staff of our North Philadelphia Cluster (about 60 people), in an effort to introduce all levels of staff to maker programming. This staff development is valuable, as it helps to demystify new technology and programming in a short amount of time with a high amount of impact.<\/p>\n

\"fablab\"<\/a><\/p>\n

DSIL, a school with approximately 100 students, is very progressive\u2014particularly when compared to the typical classroom in Asia. There is no grading system and no grade levels, only three categories: New Learner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Every term youth at DSIL do a course called Project<\/em> where they create an object or a report through self-directed inquiry. The only rules are that the projects be feasible in terms of time, and in the words of one teacher, \u201cacademic enough\u201d. Through Project<\/em>, youth work creatively and independently, and are mentored by teachers as they discover their own interest-driven pathways. Project is modeled on the learning theory of Constructionism, most easily defined as learning-by-making. Constructionism shares many threads with Connected Learning (interest-driven, production-centered) and offers a useful model to libraries and other informal learning spaces experimenting with maker programming.<\/p>\n

DSIL\u2019s FabLab<\/a>, part of the FabLab@School network<\/a>, was inaugurated in January 2013 with programming beginning in March 2013. It is developing at the same rate as maker programming in Philadelphia<\/a> and at other Learning Labs<\/a>. As I spoke to teachers, we discussed some of the bigger questions they had, which I have heard often in the U.S. amongst libraries and museums: what sorts of programs best support youth as they\u2019re pursuing the kernel of an interest? Through making, what is our goal in teaching youth? What sorts of tools and guidance need to be available to help youth learn this independent, interest-driven creative thinking and process?<\/p>\n

Developing Workshops: Using Problems to Create Projects<\/strong><\/p>\n

The workshop began with youth and teachers describing what they\u2019ve previously used the FabLab for, and the obstacles they have had integrating the FabLab into their curriculum. One teacher, Plub Limpiti, teaches \u201cNew Learners\u201d who are around 9-10 years old. She had no experience using the FabLab\u2019s tools (e.g., the laser cutter, 3D printer, vinyl cutter), and felt that her students lacked hand skills. Her class had previously used the FabLab to create wire armatures, onto which they would glob clay; an exercise that the students got quickly bored with. She was hoping to leave this workshop having developed interesting, easy-entry, low-tech ways for her students to use the FabLab.<\/p>\n

Another teacher, Archie Silapiruti, teaches \u201cAdvanced\u201d students ages 13 to 18. Like Plub, he had no experience using the FabLab\u2019s tools. The younger students (equivalent of 9th graders) are what Archie refers to as the FabLab Generation; when beginning a project, their default is to start immediately in the lab and use the laser cutter as much as possible. Many do not seek help from Archie or Pump, the Lab Manager, because they don\u2019t \u201cwant to be bothered\u201d while they\u2019re working and prefer \u201cto do thing own thing.\u201d Often, Archie\u2019s students use the lab outside of class to create mechanical objects, like engines, airplanes, and motorcycles. Most of these younger students using the FabLab are male, which reflects that makeup of the school (the school is currently \u201cmostly male\u201d according to Tukta Tutiyaphuengprasert, the Vice Provost of DSIL, but hasn\u2019t always been that way).<\/p>\n

Archie\u2019s older students, a group that includes more girls, begin their creative process with traditional, low-tech materials like drawings and cardboard cutouts. There\u2019s a rift between the younger and older students; the older students are more focused on doing reports, and are less inclined to use the FabLab. Archie is worried that the older students are being \u201cleft behind\u201d. He suspects that they\u2019re intimidated by the FabLab, in terms of tools and objects that other students are making in it. He is focused on boosting these students\u2019 skills by showing them how the FabLab can be used as a resource that\u2019s not limited to a narrow engineering focus.<\/p>\n

\"archie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another New Learner teacher, Michelle, said that she had only used the FabLab to monitor student safety while they were using the tools and equipment. Consequently, she didn\u2019t know how to use any of the tools, and didn\u2019t have time to learn, so whenever the students had questions she would defer to Pump. Her purpose in attending the workshop was to learn more about the FabLab so she could better support her students.<\/p>\n

Learning the Design Process<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the next part of the workshop, teachers and youth broke up into groups and developed a project they wanted to work on for the next two days. Researchers from Stanford explained the concept of design thinking to the group and then guided them through the process of identifying a problem (empathizing with the end user\/community), brainstorming a rapid list of solutions (ideating), prototyping one idea that fits the needs of the community best, testing the prototype, redefining and refocusing your solution based on the community\u2019s response, and repeating the cycle. Each group was to identify a problem that they currently face in their classroom, and use the FabLab to develop a project or a solution.<\/p>\n

In an effort to introduce youth to the laser cutter who might not be interested in creating an engineering product, Archie and his group decided to create a pattern for a stuffed animal, to be cut out of fabric using the laser cutter. Plub and Pump, whose group I later joined, decided to create a Rube Goldberg machine, with the help of a New Learner student. This would involve a lot of creative thinking, but not necessarily fine handwork and tool use.<\/p>\n

\"pattern-dolls\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Challenges: Building the Ship as You\u2019re Sailing It<\/strong><\/p>\n

All groups were, for the most part, learning the tools as they were creating their project. Archie\u2019s group had never used the laser cutter before to cut fabric. Since the fabric is so lightweight, and the laser cutter has a fan inside it, they were concerned about keeping the fabric in place while it was being cut (the solution involved cardboard and pins). They also didn\u2019t know what speed and strength to set the laser cutter to without scorching the fabric. In addition, they had to create a pattern for a stuffed animal from scratch, which they prototyped using paper and glue. At least one member of their group did not know how to sew.<\/p>\n

\"lasercutting-fabric\"<\/a><\/p>\n

DSIL\u2019s enormous laser cutter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Plub\u2019s group had never created a Rube Goldberg machine before. They began by looking up videos on YouTube<\/a>, and identifying the elements that they wanted it to have (a pulley, a ball, and an inclined plane). \u201cAnd it has to be pretty\u201d she said, she pulled a fox puppet, ribbons, acrylic tubes, and washi paper tape out of a box of her own crafting supplies. They struggled to get the physics of their project right, and it took a lot of thinking, improvisation, and failed attempts before they were able to successfully combine their individual elements into a string of movement.<\/p>\n