The thinking behind the tinkering

How can we create a new generation of kids who are no longer passive users of technology, but instead are thinkers and makers? That's what happened here in Windsor. It's our heritage and it's our challenge.

Before fully diving in to a maker space project, it seemed appropriate to do some research. I began with the history.  The Tinkerers: The Amateurs, DIYers, and Inventors who Make Amermica Great helped me to connect the idea of tinkering to the past. While the word "tinkering" might sound like someone who is aimlessly messing around, it is a deeply innovative practice--building something out of existing, available parts for an entirely new purpose. It is exactly what happened here in Windsor as the development of interchangeable parts and increasing precision were iterative processes.


Invent to Learn, Tinkering: Kids Learn to Make Stuff, and the NGSS Science Standards all helped me to think about to shape a learning environment where kids would be innovative.  All agreed that we want kids to be unencumbered, filled with possibility. We want them to think, make, and improve. We want them to collaborate. We want them to have opportunities to reflect, talk about their work, and share with others.

That's the philosophy behind our project.

Learning to Code

I have been taking a class through Marlboro College called "Creating with Code" as a way to gain some background knowledge in coding and to figure out the best way to proceed with coding in our Learning Lab.  We began by reading the introduction to Seymour Papert's book, Mindstorms.  In Gears of our Childhood, Papert talks about the early influence of exploring automobiles on his life. His hands-on exploration of gears provided him with concrete models to understand abstract concepts. His constructivist approach to working with children and computers leads him to argue for having children put in control of computers and create new worlds.

Next we explored two learning platforms for coding.  At Code.org I worked through the accelerated course to work through core computer science and coding concepts. I really enjoyed the simple approach to figuring out the various puzzles with block coding. Each activity began with a brief video explaining the concept and I had plenty of opportunity for trial and error to get coding right.  My kids wondered why I was playing with zombies!

Next I worked through the first four lessons at CS-First using Scratch. Like Code.org, each lesson began with a video explanation. We then worked through a series of puzzles or projects focused around specific aspects of coding such as "if-then" statements. At the end of the series of activities, there as a very nice video connecting what I had just practiced to real-world technologies such as directional swiping on a cell phone.  They then asked kids to share their work both virtually and in person. While I liked the final two components of each unit, I did not find the coding activities to be as strong. I learned more coding using the code.org platform and felt like at CS-First I was just following directions and not creating something myself. This could be, however, because I was....rushing.

I've learned a lot about kids and coding by working through these lessons and am most appreciative. I see how coding is constructivist learning and I look forward to next learning how to combine coding with making.

Finding an audience and starting simply

In addition to our space challenges, we had an audience challenge. Windsor students and their families were not in the habit of coming to the museum. I wasn't sure that even if we advertised something super-cool, we'd get kids to willingly walk in the door. So, we collaborated with the library's after-school program. The kids walk to the library every Wednesday, so the librarian scooped them all up and walked them over to the museum. We had a snack, played with circuits, and parents came here to pick them up. We got the kids AND the parents in the door.

We didn't have a learning lab--just two 8' foot tables pushed together so we could all collaborate and experiment together.  It really was leaping in as I had never experimented with circuits.  I remember learning about batteries in 6th grade, but that is the extent of my education. In fact, in order to prepare, I borrowed a science kit from the Vermont Learning Collaborative and spent a weekend teaching myself before going any further. And so we began, very simply, making circuits from batteries and a string of Christmas lights from my attic and then experimenting to figure out what else could be used to create a circuit.

 

Materials:

Christmas lights
AA batteries
Wire strippers & cutters
Old foam core exhibit labels
Electrical tape
Conductive material such as foil, thumbtacks, paperclips
Cost:  $0

Museum Maker Spaces

How to help kids explore the mechanical world within the parameters of our museum? Here's the issue: We have NO HEAT except for our small lobby. Would it be possible to steal some space from our lobby for a classroom? How would the space work in the summer when the museum is open for visitors? Could we create a flexible space that would serve local students in the winter, school groups in the spring and fall, and the general public in the summer?

It seemed appropriate to visit some other museums and check out their maker spaces. My first visit was to the Idea Hub at the MIT Museum. On the day we visited this small room was hosted by college students, and museum visitors were invited to drop in to try out a new technology. Around 8 kids and their parents were grouped around a table making paper circuits. The room had cubbies for completed projects and desks at the edge of the room with a 3D printer and other technology. This was my first visit to a Maker Space and I wanted to engage as a drop-in visitor would, since this would be a need at our museum as well. We learned about FAT: their Friday after Thanksgiving Rube Goldberg Challenge.

Next up was a trip to the Montshire Museum's new Tinkering Lab. This tinkering lab is located in a more central place than MIT's lab. On the day we visited, there were large numbers of families making Scribblebots and the space was hosted by a volunteer. They had display spaces to show prototypes of various projects and a video-screen that projected steps for making the current project. Again, having a host available seemed important to both engaging visitors and keeping the space organized.  The Montshire also has a Rube Goldberg challenge and we spent some time with their educator getting tips on how we might design ours.

The final visit was to the Peabody Essex Museum's Maker Lounge. Like the other museum maker spaces I visited, PEM offers a combination of workshops and drop-in activities. Unlike the other museums, PEMs Maker Lounge did not have a host and it was empty. Clearly kids had been working in the space as there were all sorts of examples of what they had made.

I think the lack of a host had a big part to do with the lack of drop-in visitors as Maker Spaces often feature technologies that aren't readily accessible to the general public. This was something to reflect on for our museum as we do not have the staffing to host a Learning Lab full-time. We met with the Maker Lounge coordinator and some of our observations were confirmed.  


I got excited about creating our own hands-on zone!

New Mission New Programs

We at the American Precision Museum recently changed the museum's mission and programming priorities to include more outreach. The idea was to use the incredible story of what happened here in the 19th century to inspire students today.

Robbins & Lawrence Armory, 1849

In the mid-nineteenth century, here at the museum, three young men skilled in  hand-crafted  gunsmithing, pattern making, and precision milling came together to create “The American System” of manufacturing.  Their state-of-the-art armory building, powered by Windsor's Mill Brook, would set the stage for future manufacturing around the world.  Their contribution was fundamental in shaping today’s industry, commerce, and consumer society.

Windsor Manufacturing Lathe, detail

There were some principles they practiced that continue to be fundamental today to economic development. They had locally-owned enterprises, deeply rooted apprenticeship programs, a sharing of skills across firms, and investment in accumulation of knowledge. They created a "community of practice" that led to some of the most important innovations in the Industrial Revolution.

The challenge has been to figure out how to use this historic building as a place of learning and exploration for both young and old and as a living resource for innovation of the past, present, and future. Through this blog, I will share our story as we set about to meet the challenge and our mission.