 Welcome to my basement shop the place my kids and I have been spending a lot of time right now It's a little messy That's how my kids keep it and I've learned to let it stay messy for a while I'd like to share with you a little bit today about my experience making things and how that has grown Into interesting and I think very relevant experiences with my children as we make things at home and I want to explore this concept of making and How it's really a timeless concept however one I think that is under great threat today So the conversation goes something like this with my kids Dad can you take us to the hardware store? Why? We need some PVC pipe. What for? Well, since our last boat didn't work. We want to make a better one and This has really been my life story for the past few years I've blogged about it before as well and you can find some information about that there, but Whether it's PVC pipe a PVC pipe cutter PVC pipe glue heat gun tire valves to pressurize Valves to release pressure string and more string Laser pointers bolts to mount cameras wire duct tape old guitars spray paints and paper We're certainly keeping the local hardware store in good business. We make lots of trips there Somehow my kids end up with the very things. I won't buy them Because in the end they make them and this is in this case a longbow. So let me tell you about this Yes, they've made blowguns paintball launchers rocket launchers cameras stabilizers and so much more and I hadn't given into their pleading for a bow and arrow because you know as you know in a neighborhood where their houses Fairly close to one another things like arrows can be hazardous as well as make it difficult for Neighborly relationships, so we say However, when my kids want to make things I find I just can't say no Where do they get this passionate desire to make stuff from I think from their dad from me And I think I got it from my dad as well and he probably got it from his dad and so on However, I think there's an innate desire in all of us to make cool stuff Things that are meaningful and interesting to us whatever those things might be. I think makers are timeless Dale Daugherty the founder the maker of movement makes a really good point in this regard Here he is talking about the timelessness of makers and an unfortunate shift I think in culture as we have progressed Maybe the 1960s or so things like tinkering were more mainstream They were like middle-class virtues if you could improve your home or repair your car Well, you save some money. You got something that might have been hard to get otherwise as you couldn't pay for it and so you were smarter you were you were resourceful and I think that kind of mindset is just Important for many years or many almost decades We've kind of talked ourselves out of being makers that we're we're smart shoppers or consumers And I really want to turn that around and say we we are makers. We we make our world Indeed for many of us and our children our students as well I think the emphasis has really shifted to being smart consumers both of goods and information and less so on creators tinkerers and makers Of course in many ways the tools of the trade have also changed electronics the internet and connected digital devices ubiquitous devices that record video miniaturization of circuits and processors these all bring about new possibilities for making and inventing things That timelessness of inventing does indeed evolve But as Dale points out, I think making doesn't have to be complex Reserve for geniuses are only high-tech. I'm here's what he has to say about that Innovation and making and creating is it's it's kind of an everyday thing that lots of people do it's not it doesn't have to be Elevated it's not something that just geniuses do it's we're all inventors. We're all makers So even as I think we've shifted away from making is more of a necessity The innate desire within us to create things interesting things really remains We come to understand ourselves in our world through interacting with it and part of that comes from making things Here's a simple example of something just like this that happened at our house the other day My son bought an old SLR film camera and a few rolls of film at a garage sale The camera looked functional and he thought he could understand the concept of film cameras and film from what he had read And I should add he's become quite knowledgeable. I'm using a DSLR camera and understanding some of that So he certainly came into it with some good background knowledge But anyway, he loaded the film and took his 24 photos and a few days later Brought the film to our local Sam's Club to be developed and amazing. They still develop film but an hour or so later we get a call from the developer that the film was blank and Likely never advanced through the camera as the photos were taken So even though my son had some knowledge about how it all worked He never had the opportunity to actually try it So since he had a second role of film this time I guided him through the process of threading the end of the film through the slot of the spindle You remember those things so that this time the film advanced lever would actually pull the film through the camera and across the shutter and the lens and I thought it was a perfect example of learning through failure and Learning through actually interacting with the medium rather than just reading about it And it made me think how much of school today is reading about things Rather than really interacting with them and the concepts that they imbue in meaningful and active ways Here's a boy talking about this very concept as he gets to explore his world in ways never before Experienced in the classroom and that of course I think is the tragedy here Had you done this kind of work before? I know nothing like I've always played with electricity, but just lighting up a light with a switch Nothing really this advanced so it's it's a lot of fun. Would you have learned this in your regular school or now? No, definitely not in regular school. I mean I Never would have had this opportunity. So this has been really cool And too often we try to cram innovation or creativity in our little boxes of learning in the same Way, we're so rushed to cover curriculum It's just far too easy to use the words creativity innovation projects Yet really fall short of really making these things authentic and meaningful for kids And dale goes on to say this You know, it's not something you tell someone to innovate. It's like creativity You don't tell people to be creative you invite them to you know and you open the context for them to do that So it really resonates inside of them. You know, it's not something you impose on them. Yeah So back to my kids and they're making of the long bows As I entered the garage the scene before me made this really real. Here it is Do you notice something look at these photos? All the typical tools are strewn about in the typical kid fashion Yet the ipad sits amongst them all another tool I didn't suggest that my son do this. He just does it naturally His access to experts experience multimedia social connectivity They open up a world to him that even I may not have experienced And in a sense, it's a little bittersweet because he doesn't need his dad working with him as much as he used to But like a good dad, I really admire him for growing up Becoming both responsible and independent And now my younger son has now become his apprentice working alongside his older brother making cool stuff My wife isn't always as happy about all of this as she has a different tolerance for danger as moms often do She wasn't raised making things and using tools And I guess that's why having two parents with different experiences can be so valuable to children Not to mention that dads often have a bent for higher risk and maybe just a tad more impulsiveness Um sometimes without using your head I love that my kids make things They watch very little tv they read They read and watch mostly youtube for the purposes of making things My oldest son learned to play guitar on youtube and still turns to youtube to learn new riffs from his experts My youngest son turns to the internet and off in youtube for just about everything as well What to look for in a new camera? How to program in scratch? How to make a bottle rocket and just about everything else that he's curious about Knowing and and even making but But here's the thing They go to school and largely sit in desks and listen to teachers who tell them things good things and they write these things down La often parrot them back Practice and have to remember This model of learning worked for older generations because they didn't have access to the fantastic tools That allow for much more learning independence and creativity, but this has changed However in their institutions of mass production mass education It's not always so easy and and i'll be the first to admit that maybe that's part of the problem But it is possible and it's happening all over the world in schools and classrooms In gary stager and sylvia martinez's new book invent to learn they write this and it really resonates The maker movement not only blurs the artificial boundaries between subject areas It erases distinctions between art and science While most importantly obliterating the crippling practices of tracking students in academic pursuits or vocational training There are now multiple pathways to learning that we have always Taught and things to do that were unimaginable just a few years ago And i couldn't agree more in an article from make magazine the reason suggested is one that i've been right talking about here and They put it this way to quote The funny thing is that people have been doing this diy making forever But now it's a movement and why is that and the answer is simple the internet The internet has become more and more deeply embedded in our society the ability for people with specific hobbies to connect with others Who share their passions for diy electronics or felting Dr. Who characters or building fire breathing sculptures has become easier and easier Passionate makers find other passionate makers. They share collaborate create and thrive They come together in online and real space communities and big events and show off what they're doing They realize there are enough people like them or enough people who like what they're doing That perhaps they can build a small business around it and they run crowdfunding campaigns They succeed and provide a model for the next maker to try something else They show each other a path to tread This has become much more of a virtual digital and social apprenticeship model of learning Are schools today tapping into the vast wealth of this opportunity? things like the flip classroom try But I think really fall short in so many ways Not that this model doesn't succeed in other ways Maybe the flip model of learning needs not only to change the learning structure But also the notion of expert and learning community Mimi Ito discusses a really important distinction between how kids use the internet Used for what she calls friendship based activities and entertainment And also used for passion based interest based or geeking around or tinkering types of activities Here's what she has to say There really is a gap in perception and understanding between generations about the value of engagement with online activities and so in the adult world there was a General perception that when kids are in front of the screen or messing around with their computer that it's a waste of Time that it's taking away from more productive activities healthier activities whereas kids Ascribe much more value to the those activities and that's in a way not so different from you know An earlier generation trying to get your teenage daughter off the phone or trying to get Your son to come in From playing with their friends to focus on their homework But I think there's a more general perception in the culture around new media That is associated with entertainment media and other forms of just mediated activity that it is inherently um a space that is Hostile to learning and that's the perception that I think we really need to work against and part of it is Understanding the differences between different kinds of online activities So friendship driven activity is very different from interest driven activity And if you lump them all together you're actually missing the opportunity for learning that's in the space And also not recognizing the sort of baseline social learning that's happening in the friendship space So I don't think it's that we should abandon formal learning at school We need formal learning But I think rather we we need to better coordinate these powerful forms of informal and creative learning That can and should happen away from school and spill over into school and vice versa In general, I don't think we've done a very good job of understanding these more passion driven spaces and connective technologies That empower learners and help operationalize passion and interest not to mention just expanding our kids and students horizons In terms of what is possible and how new tools are being used and exciting and powerful ways to support learning Is how we support kids engagement and the more messing around and geeking out space And this is the space that really has the opportunity to foster kids intellectual development their civic engagement Their personal development in really important ways. And yet we haven't really worked as educators or parents to proactively engage kids In any event my kids will continue to follow their passions and make things it just sad and It's just sad to see them more excited to come home to learn than they are to go to school and learn Subjects that should be fascinating and truly engaging or often drudgery or simply wrote for them I've personally witnessed over the years that classroom projects are going the way of the dinosaur Salt the relief maps building a model of colonial jamestown out of popsicle sticks and found objects Developing a business creating a giant polyhedron One of the latest innovations the digital textbook Just can't compensate for the disappearance of making projects and solving problems As nice as embedded and interactive media is The increasingly oppressive trend to deliver content and assess recall on that content How does passion-based learning fit in with this paradigm? A teacher describes it this way in this video When all I bring home is a piece of paper and I picked b instead of c I don't have a lot to talk about with my parents and because I picked c and the answer was b I don't want to talk about it. So If I'm bringing home something I made and it's right because I made it was my plan or I know how to fix it I've got a lot to do at home So ask yourself today What do I want to make ask your own children what they want to make and finally if if you dare Ask your students what they want to make they may surprise you There's so many ways to tie real interesting and passion-driven projects to the curriculum If a 10th grade english teacher in cleveland can use a three-legged iron bracket That holds the legs of a chair as a catalyst for learning about Ralph Waldo emerson's self-reliance in themselves Then surely we can tap into the rich world around us and the passions and interests of our students And their world as we help them understand it all Here's a little bit from the wiki seat project and the teacher who started this If there's one thing that we really need in education is students who understand that problems are solvable if we can learn We're learning for the wrong reason in education right now is to prove that we know things We should prove we should learn to solve problems big things the basic ideas. What do you want to make right? You can feel the energy in here. I mean they just came right in and immediately got to work So my advice to you Go make things If you have kids, you know, go make interesting things with them What do they want to make? Ask your students. What do they want to make and how can you connect that to curriculum? How can you leverage new tools in interesting ways that empower them to create things? As with the picture of my son at the workbench with the ipad there That ipad wasn't there to access digital textbook. It wasn't there to Play an interactive game or app to simulate something That ipad was there as an integral tool into pursuing his passions It was connecting him to communities. It was connecting him to expert instruction Whether it be video based or text based It was his go-to place to free him To help him to be independent To help him follow his passion To help him pick his own path This is the way tools today should be leveraged in our classrooms And I think as some of this content that I shared with you has pointed out it has really missed the mark So let's all get back to using tools and really relevant and real ways to make things make things of interest Make things that are exciting And to understand that there's this whole environment as Mimi Ido talked about where We can immerse ourselves not in friendship and entertainment driven types of spaces and tools but in passion based in tinkering and geeking out times of types of places and spaces where truly interesting things can be made And the process of making those things can be supported in so many ways So go make something Oh, yeah Don't spray the guitar you blew it right off the guitar There you go My guitar Yeah, you blew some rap Oh, yeah, lots of green. Yeah Well the green See it looks like there's none here. Yeah