This book is the result of a three-year research project called Agency by Design that was funded by the Abundance Foundation and conducted at Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The project has put us in touch with more talented and interesting people than we ever could have imagined, and this book would not have been possible without the generous contributions of scores of collaborators every step of the way.

To begin at the beginning, we would like to thank Stephen Kahn of the Abundance Foundation for his ongoing support, his enthusiasm, and his ever present creative spirit. Without him this work would truly not have taken the shape it did. We also want to thank Liz Kahn, whose early vision illuminated the way, and Wendy Donner, for her early and ongoing leadership of the Agency by Design project in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are also especially grateful to Emi Kane, Benita Kline, Hal Leventhal, and the Abundance Foundation Board of Directors, without whose support this project would not have been possible.

We are most grateful for the time, energy, and openness to new experiences expressed by the many members of the Temescal and Oakland Learning Communities, in particular Maite Barloga, Kurt Kaaekuahiwi, Reggie Richardson, and Ronnie Richardson at Claremont Middle School; Carla Aiello, Michelle Beal, Jennifer Dunn, Danielle Erwin, Kathy Hatzke, and Marian Woodside at Emerson Elementary School; Tatum Omari at North Oakland Community Charter School; Thi Bui, Raquel Franker, Carmelita Reyes, and Brooke Toczylowski at Oakland International High School; Tara Austin, Richard Fairly, Natalia Cooper, and Casey Fern at Oakland Technical High School; Beatriz Calderon-Rivera, Harriet Cohen, Jenny Ernst, Jeanine Harmon, Alex Kane, Tom Little, Ilya Pratt, Renee Miller, and Meena Srinivasan at Park Day School; and Ryan Lewis at 826 Valencia. We additionally owe our gratitude to the many maker educators who helped us pilot test early drafts of our thinking routines through their membership in the Agency by Design Learning Community. In particular, we would like to thank Mariah Landers at the Alameda County Office of Education in Hayward, CA; Bruce Hamren at the Athenian School in Danville, CA; Andrea Sachdeva at the Boston ArtScience Prize in Boston, MA; Jeremy Boyle and Melissa Butler at the Children’s Innovation Project in Pittsburgh, PA; Rebecca Grabman at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, PA; Kurt Kaaekuahiwi at Claremont Middle School in Oakland, CA; David Clifford, Corinna Hui, and Kyle Metzner at the East Bay School for Boys in Berkeley, CA; Karen Wilkinson at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA; Peter McKenna and Duncan Wilson at the Fox Meadow School in Scarsdale, NY; Darlease Monteiro at the Global Learning Charter Public School in New Bedford, MA; Steve Teeri at the HYPE Teen Center in Detroit, MI; Gus Goodwin at King Middle School in Portland, ME; Aaron Vanderwerff at the Lighthouse Community Charter School in Oakland, CA; Steve Davee at the Maker Education Initiative in Oakland, CA; Andy Forest at MakerKids in Toronto, ON; Jaymes Dec at the Marymount School of New York in New York City, NY; Amos Blanton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA; Alison Rinner Fullerton at MsBiz in Nashville, TN; Tatum Omari at North Oakland Community Charter School in Oakland, CA; Brooke Toczylowski at Oakland International High School in Oakland, CA; Mariano Ulibarri at the Parachute Factory in Las Vegas, NM; Jeanine Harmon, Jenny Ernst, Alex Kane, Renee Miller, and Ilya Pratt at the Park Day School in Oakland, CA; William MacFarlane and Bryce Taylor at Parts and Crafts in Somerville, MA; Lisa Yokana at the Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale, NY; and Tobey Balzer, Vince Durnan, and Jeff Greenfield at the University School of Nashville in Nashville, TN. In addition to the thoughtful educators we worked with, we also extend our warmest gratitude to all of the educators and thought leaders who have generously shared their time, knowledge, and experience throughout the interview strand of this inquiry: Jeremy Boyle, Melissa Butler, David Clifford, Steve Davee, Jaymes Dec, Youssou Fall, Andy Forest, Gus Goodwin, Bruce Hamren, Peter McKenna, Pamela R. Moran, Jeff Sturges, Steve Teeri, Gever Tulley, Mariano Ulibarri, Karen Wilkinson, Duncan Wilson, and Susie Wise.

We would further like to express our appreciation to the people and places that invited us into their making, design, and learning environments and engaged us in informal conversations about the work they do, especially Molly Rubenstein at Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville, MA; Andrea Sachdeva at the Boston ArtScience Prize in Boston, MA; Ellen Hathaway, Justine Macauley, and Gever Tulley at the Brightworks School in San Francisco, CA; Jessica Hobbs and Catie Magee at the Flux Foundation in Oakland, CA; Michelle Hublinka and Parker Thomas at the Maker Education Initiative in San Francisco, CA; and Kim Saxe at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. We would also like to thank the wonderful people we met at American Steel Studios in Oakland, CA; Breakwater School in Portland, ME; the Crucible in Oakland, CA; King Middle School in Portland, ME; NIMBY in Oakland, CA; and Tech Shop in San Francisco, CA. Thanks as well to Brad Gentile at Propel McKeesport, Pittsburgh, PA, for sharing his documentation of student work with us.

Many individuals have played a variety of important behind-the-scenes roles to bring our research on this project—and this book—to fruition. Among them are the host of talented graduate students we have had the privilege to work with as research assistants. We would like to especially thank Cami Gordon, Amy Hachigian, Raquel Jimenez, Sarah May, and Chandell Stone for their exceptional contributions to the ideas expressed in this book. We also thank Peter “Bridge” Bridgford and Gabrielle Santa Donato for pilot testing our nascent interview questions with us and Oskar Kelly, Samuel Rallis, and Max Ryan for serving as our youth tool testers whenever we needed to experiment with an emergent activity or thinking routine. We would like to also thank our colleagues Ron Berger for his inspiration and endorsement, Alex Coppola for his videographic wizardry, Melissa Rivard for helping us make the work of our project visible, Matthew Riecken for graphically organizing our ideas, Andrea Tishman for designing our iconic logo, Christina Smiraglia and Liz Dawes Duraisingh for supporting us with their methodological expertise, Carla Lillvik for serving as a research librarian guide, the CASIE team for helping us share our work with educators around the world through the Project Zero Perspectives conference series, and David Stephen for working so closely with our teacher partners in considering how to incorporate making and design into their learning environments. Of course, it goes without saying that our work on this project would not have been possible without the camaraderie and intellectual administrative support of our many colleagues at Project Zero. In particular, we would like to thank Faith Harvey, Jordy Oakland, and Dami Seung.

Though not directly involved in the inner workings of the Agency by Design research initiative, we additionally offer our thanks to the many friends of our project, including Karen Brennan at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Kylie Peppler at Indiana University Bloomington; Tiffany Tseng at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stephanie Chang, Lisa Regalla, and Dale Dougherty at the Maker Education Initiative; the Open Bench Project in Portland, ME; the Open Portfolio Project; Natasha Bhalla and Jim Reese at the Washington International School; the #makered Twitter community; and all of the passionate teachers who have attended our conference presentations and professional development workshop sessions across the United States and around the world.

As we look to the future, we would like to especially thank Wendy Donner, Ilya Pratt, Brooke Toczylowski, and Aaron Vanderwerff for carrying the Agency by Design torch forward and Jeff Evancho and Megan Cicconi for sparking enthusiasm for this work in new audiences.

We would like to additionally express our gratitude to our editor Kate Bradford and to all of her staff at Jossey-Bass, especially Lily Miller, Pete Gaughan, Connor O’Brien, and Haritha Dharmarajan. Last but not least, we would like to thank our families for all of the love, support, and patience they have offered throughout the process of writing this book. We are especially grateful to our spouses Angela Mittiga, Bryan Polashenski, Jake Ryan, and Bob Sowa.

Tables

1. 1.1 The primary and secondary benefits associated with maker-centered learning
2. 2.1 Overview of strategies for designing maker-centered learning experiences and environments

Figures

1. I.1 Young visitors to the 2014 World Maker Faire engage with an interactive LED exhibit at the New York Hall of Science.
2. I.2 Young makers constructing a trash collecting net for an environmental science exploration at Park Day School in Oakland, California.
3. I.3 In a tinkering class at Breakwater School in Portland, Maine, kindergarten students work together to build a geodesic dome.
4. 1.1 Students in Tanya Kryukova's physics class at Lighthouse Community Charter School, in Oakland, California explore the physics of speakers.
5. 1.2 Tatum Omari's first-grade students at North Oakland Community Charter School express how they identify as makers and inventors.
6. 1.3 Fourth graders engage in a toy take-apart activity, discovering how mechanized toys work while embracing the idea that “nothing is precious.”
7. 1.4 Students at the Corrales Community Library in New Mexico work with educators from the Parachute Factory to explore the properties of electricity using circuits, conductive thread, and LED lights.
8. 1.5 A student at King Middle School in Portland, Maine, carefully chooses from a selection of chisels, making sure she uses the right tool for her wind turbine project.
9. 2.1 Two young makers support each other as they learn about tools and materials.
10. 2.2 At the Open Bench Project, a makerspace in Portland, Maine, teachers come in all shapes and sizes. Brought in as a local expert, 13-year-old Aidan is seen here facilitating an Arduino class for King Middle School science and math teachers.
11. 2.3 Students work with a guest educator on a collaborative wind turbine project.
12. 2.4 In the Tech Ed room at King Middle School, tools and materials are ready for making and tinkering opportunities.
13. 2.5 A third grade student asks a friend for help as she explores the properties and stretching capacity of a new material.
14. 2.6 Lighthouse Community Charter School teacher Amy Dobras facilitates a Grade 7-8 collaborative making project exploring identity, self-worth, and community.
15. 2.7 After “making the rounds” and observing other groups' wind turbines, students in Gus Goodwin's technology education class discuss ways to incorporate what they have learned into their own model.
16. 2.8 In its original configuration, the Tinkering Studio in San Francisco's Exploratorium offered rectangular tables for visitors to make things. After observing an unintended teacher-at-the-head-of-the-mentality, staff refurnished the space with round tables, thereby increasing the potential for distributed learning and teaching.
17. 2.9 At Brightworks School in San Francisco, California, students' self-designed studio spaces include specific areas for sharing ideas and soliciting feedback. Here, a student seeks design advice from a friend.
18. 2.10 In Ed Crandall's ninth-grade robotics class students look to each other for technological help and advice.
19. 2.11 Staff at the Tinkering Studio model their own philosophy by experimenting with exhibition designs.
20. 2.12 The Innovation Workshop at Park Day School was built after many conversations, surveys, and meetings involving school and broader community constituents.
21. 2.13 Students working at Park Day School frequently use simple tools, like glue guns, to prototype their ideas with non-precious materials.
22. 2.14 In many makerspaces, visibility of materials, tools, and projects in process are critical to how kids engage with the making and tinkering process.
23. 3.1 Students build confidence and competence when given an opportunity to work with carpentry tools.
24. 3.2 In a partnership between Emerson Elementary School and Park Day School, students build T-Stools to bring back for classroom use.
25. 3.3 To convert the truck they acquired from gasoline to electric power, Roberto, Cesar, and Tomas had to make many modifications. Here, Cesar helps make room for the electric motor.
26. 3.4 Students at Marymount School of New York take the initiative to do some online research to out how to import music from their iTunes into an Arduino-based device they are building.
27. 3.5 Students look closely at environmental systems to design devices for taking trash out of the water as part of a larger unit on the effect of pollution in local waterways.
28. 4.1 Students engage in some close looking at a screw as part of the Children's Innovation Project learning in Pittsburgh Public Schools.
29. 4.2 Students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education consider the designed properties and inner workings of an old Smith-Corona typewriter.
30. 4.3 Engaged in a making activity, a student from Emerson Elementary School pauses to examine the properties of the materials he's working with.
31. 5.1 The Agency by Design pedagogical framework for developing a sensitivity to design foregrounds three interrelated maker capacities: looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity.
32. 5.2 Students in Thi Bui's technology class at Oakland International High School look closely at a computer by taking it apart.
33. 5.3 To better understand scientific principles behind light and electricity, a third-grade student in Renee Miller's class breaks down a light bulb into its individual elements.
34. 5.4 Students in Alex Kane's fifth-grade class redesign their classroom workspace, starting with the furniture, after analyzing the benefits of student movement on the brain and overall health.
35. 5.5 The proposed design for a maker campus at Oakland International High School.
36. 5.6 A student in the woodworking shop looking closely while setting up the work space.
37. 5.7 Kindergarten students in Carla Aiello's class map out the parts, people, and interactions associated with the system of making an apple pie.
38. 5.8 Students at Propel McKeesport School in Pittsburgh begin to engage with the Agency by Design maker capacities by documenting the parts, purposes, and complexities of their balloon car prototypes.
39. C.1 A young student fully engages all three maker capacities while working through a carpentry project.
40. C.2 Exploration and experimentation in the maker-centered classroom can be made more accessible and equithrough the careful planning and facilitation of maker educators.
41. C.3 A whimsical redesign created from the messy and evolving process of repurposing materials.

I live in a rural town where most of the roads are dirt, where there are no traffic lights or stores, where the firefighters are volunteer citizens. Other than homes, the town has few buildings: a town hall, a post office, a church, a bar, and a school. For 25 years I was one of the few teachers in our small public school; almost everyone in my town under the age of 50 is a former student of mine. Students from this school have done remarkably well, by almost any measure: test scores, college, careers, and adult lives.

Here is an important thing: students in the school spent much of their time making things. Students worked hard at literacy and math skills, knowledge of the world, just like at any school. But they did not focus that learning toward preparing for tests; instead, they used that learning to make great things. Mothers and fathers in this town, many of whom worked hard all day with their hands, took tremendous pride that their children were not just getting smart but also were developing a strong work ethic, problem-solving skills, and high standards for quality.

With almost no town employees beyond a two-person road crew, the students stepped in to help. They created demographic maps of housing and roads; they created field guides to local species; they created books to honor the lives of local veterans, workers, and citizens; they created scientific reports of home radon levels, water quality in home wells, water quality in streams; they built recycling sheds and playground structures; they created road signs and public art. They were building the same academic skills as students in other schools, but with much deeper purpose and passion.

Today, that passion in making great things suffuses the national school network where I now work—EL Education—which comprises over 150 public schools across 30 states, some of which are featured in this book. Most of these schools are situated in low-income urban settings, and the results of this approach to learning are profound. Many of these schools, sited in cities where high school graduation rates are alarmingly low, are getting almost every student to graduation on time and getting every single graduate into college every year. Other school networks that share this approach, such as the High Tech High Schools in California, are getting these same results. This success is something we as a nation need to understand.

This book, Maker-Centered Learning, takes on the fundamental question of how making things connects to the learning process and to student empowerment. With depth, integrity, and insight that are hallmarks of Project Zero, this analysis of making and learning explodes the shallow binary debate about whether the new maker movement is a groundbreaking answer to transforming schools, or simply a distraction. It instead dives deeply into the questions no one is asking: What constitutes “making”? How does the process of making instantiate learning? What are the characteristics of successful making experiences? In what conditions is making a transformational learning experience for students?

This book is not an advertisement or an indictment of the maker movement but rather a balanced look at what the movement represents and where it lives in the educational landscape. The current movement, as this book points out, was primarily a white, male initiative centered on new technology that is now filtering into schools—disproportionately schools that serve economically privileged students. But the power of making things, within school and outside of it, is not in any way limited to this sector, and the underlying potential of a maker-centered pedagogy can cut across gender, class, age, and setting. Understanding the conditions in which making is transformative for children can improve learning during school and after school and can make makerspaces effective centers of learning.

Maker-Centered Learning should be required reading for any school or district that is considering building a makerspace. As an educator who has spent a lifetime focused on student craftsmanship, I am sad to say that I am as often depressed as inspired when I am brought into a contemporary school makerspace. It is not that a well-designed makerspace does not have potential. I have seen students creating originally designed, stress-tested, low-cost wheelchair components to be sent to a developing country. I was humbled. But much of the time when I enter a school makerspace I see students using 3-D printers to create sloppy plastic versions of their names, without purpose or craftsmanship. Those schools need this book.

But it is not that schools and districts need to read this book just to improve their new makerspace. Educators need to read this book to consider how we can elevate and support the power of maker-centered learning throughout the school day, in every classroom, and outside of school as well. To understand the conditions of learning in which students from all backgrounds can be engaged and supported to make great things and transform their learning and their lives.

Ron Berger, Chief Academic Officer, EL Education