Designing Making Experiences is a two-day intensive professional development workshop for educators eager to integrate making in school into their own practice.

Spend two days planning a K-12 making project or unit of your choice and leave with a project example made by you. While being immersed in a making environment, you will make and develop, test and troubleshoot the making curriculum or project of your choice for your K-12 classroom or school.

We are now co-hosting this workshop with Maker Ed. Please check out our upcoming dates!

And for our first time this summer, we offered Designing Purposeful Making Experiences (part 2 to DME). Read all of our participants thoughts!

Note: Our professional development opportunities are offered free to Oakland Unified, San Francisco Unified, and Title 1 educators. If this applies to you, please fill out the contact form at the bottom of this page and we will send you a promotional code.

Interested in the Sonoma State Maker Certificate Program? Designing Making Experiences is also “Intro to Making” EDCT 802 and counts for credit in the program. If you are interested in the program, please register through the Sonoma State Maker Certificate website.

Participants will

Learn about ways making can be integrated into classrooms, schools and curricula

Collaborate with participants and Creativity Lab staff to plan a project or unit for your classroom or school

Learn new skills, technologies, and/or making methods to complement your project, including 3-D printing, laser cutting, woodworking, craft, electronics, and vinyl cutting

Collaborate with like-minded educators to develop making curriculum

Testimonials

“My experience at the Creativity Lab was so positive, and empowering. I really appreciated that they taught us they same way we should present to our students. It was very helpful. The first day I left feeling a bit overwhelmed and confused, but I still had the feeling that this is what my students needed. I came back the second day to learn more, ask lots of questions, and figure out how I am going to start integrating this into my classes and eventually school. It was a great day: more information was presented to us about “HOW.” We learned about resources, and best of all we learned that this is a process that takes time. I appreciated the patience and eagerness to help us learn; the staff at the Creativity Lab is wonderful. I came away with a project, with resources, and my own understanding of what i need to make this happen in my class. I asked so many questions, which were all answered with bonus information. My mind has been ignited to think like a maker and I am very excited to get my students thinking that way as well. I wish I would have had more time—there was so much more I wanted to learn.” —10th–12th Grade Math & Science Teacher

“During the designing making experiences class I learned how to use Scratch, Makey Makey, Tinkercad, and 3D Printers! I was supported by staff that were eager to answer my questions and helped me develop a project that I could use in my class.” —7th Grade Math Teacher

“This workshop got all of us—a diverse group of K-12 teachers—fully engaged in creating our own unique tailored Making curriculums. It was great to be in a well-designed Making curriculum that I will definitely implement this year!” —10th–12th Grade Physics Teacher

Our Designing Making Experiences workshops are intended to help participants integrate making into their curriculums. For two days, participants brainstorm, collaborate on, and prototype projects that they can then add to their own lesson plans. At the close of each workshop, each participant presents their prototype for feedback and reflection. Here are just some of the projects that our participants have come up with: