As part of the Creativity Lab’s mission to empower thoughtful, capable people through making, we disseminate best practices by offering professional development to educators from around country. This past year we offered several opportunities, from a new Making Math workshop — designed to focus on integrating making and abstract mathematical concepts — to Designing Making Experiences.
Fun fact: here at the Creativity Lab, Making isn’t just about making things. Making is also about learning to see the world with new eyes, and developing deeper knowledge and understanding of the world around us. One of the ways we incorporate this idea is through using Agency by Design’s thinking routines. Educators can easily integrate these routines into any subject — even those not typically associated with making, like the Humanities. The first routine, called Parts, Purposes, and Complexities, (PPC) is a great one to start with, and is applicable to physical objects as well as abstract ideas and constructs.
It started with the Creativity Lab director presenting us with the idea of teaming up with the non profit organization, Lava Mae whose motto is, “Delivering Dignity one shower at a time.” We all were immediately excited and honored to get to have this wonderful experience offered to us and we got started. Our task…
I have spent the last nine months deeply submerged in Making (in School). When given the opportunity to share what I’ve seen, I never feel I can share enough, perhaps because the nature of the idea of “Making in School” itself is so grandiose. There are so many facets to it, so many ways to…
The Summer of Making at the Creativity Lab was jam packed full of wonderful ideas, great projects, building, making, and a lot of fun! Here are some of the highlights captured on video.
Last week a team of engineers from Intel Labs, the research department of Intel, visited Lighthouse to run a Galileo workshop with middle school maker students. The Galileo is a mini computer, that can be used to interact with things like lights and sensors. Students made robotic creatures flash eyes and move wings using photo…
Throughout the summer making program, we used several techniques to help students develop their ideas at different stages of making. The processes of drawing, prototyping, and documentation are just as important as the actual ‘making’ of a project. 1. Journals: Initial ideas, sketches of designs, lists, a working book that keeps everything organized. Every student…
Summer making in the Creativity Lab was wildly successful. It lasted 5 weeks and taught more lessons than can be contained in one digestible blog post so here are a few bites-sized morsels: The impact of concentrated making over time on students is visible. The results include increased confidence, creativity, and resourcefulness. Talking about what…
Mr. V was interviewed on Tuesday, June 24th by EDUCATION TALK RADIO about Making and Designing in a Creative Classroom and School. Listen to the interview here: SMARTBLOG AWARD WINNING BLOGGER ON SCHOOL CREATIVITY, AARON VANDERWERFF 06/25 by EduTalk | Education Podcasts.
Tour + Program Planning + Making By 9 a.m. a mix of art, science, elementary, high, middle school teachers, educational planners- from schools, both public and charter, had gathered in The Creativity Lab for our first ever Tour + professional development session. It was the ultimate melting pot. A place where new methods of teaching,…