Dig Deeper with Tinkering & Making A presentation deck for training educators on the Project MASH approach to Tinkering & Making, from The Exploratory. Full day version

Today’s explorations Understand What Tinkering and Making Is. Experience A Tinker.Make.Innovate. Activity Discuss how you can incorporate Tinkering and Making into the classroom

What is tinkering?

Tinkering is to engage with materials, tools and ideas to construct knowledge of their possibilities.

Tinkering is open-ended and encourages self-motivated engagement in learning

What is making?

Making is learning by DOING. Making develops the capacity for innovative problem solving by engaging students in hands on and creative skill building projects that incorporate science, technology, engineering, art, and math subjects.

Making is social. Making provides opportunity to collaborate and develop effective communication skills.

Making develops a growth mindset that demonstrates how grit, flexible thinking, perspective-taking, perseverance and embracing failure leads to achievement and success.

Learning environments that are rich in tinkering and making require students to develop the dispositions of designers and innovators and build in them the confidence and competence to solve real world problems.

Tinker.Make.Innovate. is a three-step process developed by The Exploratory that combines tinkering, making and design thinking to provide students the opportunity to build the skills they need to propose and devise innovative solutions to complex challenges.

Tinker Phase: Developing Engagement

Make Phase: Building Skills and Knowledge

Innovate Phase: Demonstrate skills and knowledge by inventing a solution to a problem

TIME20 Minutes With Only: 20 pieces of spaghetti 1 meter of masking tape 1 meter of rope 1 large marshmallow Make the tallest tower you can that will hold up the marshmallow and stay up for 10 seconds. Quick Challenge: Marshmallow Tower Challenge

Quick Challenge: Plussing TIME10 Minutes What did you notice about the process? Were you surprised at how you approached the challenge? Notice the feelings towards failure. Did you test along the way or keep building until the end of time and then put your marshmallow on? What did you notice about how your students might feel in similar challenges?

 Spy Gadget Project

TIME15 Minutes GOALBrainstorm Ideas for “What problems do you have in your life that could use a spy gadget to solve?" During this activity, you will play with some existing spy gadgets while brainstorming to get inspired. TINKER: Spy Gadgets

MAKE: Circuits Blocks/Squishy Circuits TIME30 Minutes GOALConstruct a fundamental understanding of simple circuits and parallel circuits PROVOCATION What kind of animal could you make that could be a fun spy character. Use Squishy Circuits to add 2 LED lights and maybe a buzzer.

MAKE: E-Textiles Laser Cuff TIME60 Minutes GOALConstruct a fundamental understanding of simple circuits, the use of conductive thread, magnetic clasps, battery cases, sewing skills PROVOCATION Design your cuff to share something about yourself that is important to you.

MAKE: Alarm with Sensor TIME90 Minutes GOALAdd onto your fundamental understanding of simple circuits by adding a tilt sensor or a magnetic sensor PROVOCATION Design a stuffy that when tilted or when a magnet is brought near the sensor, a light or buzzer goes off.

INNOVATE: Spy Gadgets TIME120 minutes GOALInvent a spy gadget that could solve a problem that you brainstormed in the Tinker phase. In this phase, you will use the design thinking process to invent and create a prototype for that product.

Brainstorm TIME5 minutes Remind yourself of the spying situations you brainstormed in the Tinker phase. Add any new situations that have come to you during the Make phase. TIME 10 minutes With 2-4 other people at your table, combine your post-its and then sort them into clusters. Choose as a group, the problem/situation that you would like to invent a solution for. TIME10 minutes As a group, brainstorm possible solutions for the problem you determined you wanted to work on.

Ideate/Design/Make a Plan TIME5 minutes Pick a solution that you would like to work on TIME10 minutes Do several quick sketches of your solution on paper TIME5 minutes Decide on materials you need and make a plan for creating a prototype of your invention.

TIME10 Minutes GOALShare Ideas, Get Ideas, Get Support, Give Support During the plussing session, you will come together as the whole group to: Share your ideas and plan Receive ideas and suggestions Plussing Session

TIME45 Minutes GOALMake a prototype that can illustrate your invention idea Things to consider: Use materials like card stock, cardboard, fabric that you can easily manipulate within the time period. Other useful materials - recycled products like plastic bottles, toilet paper rolls, bottle caps and more. Useful connectors: brads, tape, glue gun, zip ties. Prototyping

TIME20 Minutes GOALShare Ideas, Get Ideas, Get Support, Give Support During the plussing session, you will come together as the whole group to: Share your ideas and plan Receive ideas and suggestions Plussing Session

TIME20 Minutes GOALTo take the plusses received to make revisions to your design. Notice: How did you feel about receiving plusses? How does this differ from constructive criticism. Revise

TIME20 Minutes GOALShare your process and demonstrate what you learned. Include in your presentation: - The problem - Your solution - Your prototyping process - How you used circuitry and switches in your solution Showcase

Reflect on Project TIME20 Minutes What other provocations/themes might you use the activities from this project? What did you notice or wonder about while you were doing the project?

Common Core and NGSS TIME20 Minutes What connections do you see between tinkering and making and the skills identified in the Common Core standards? Which Next Generation Science Standard could you see fulfilled by the circuit blocks, squishy circuits and e-textiles?

Tinkering and making offer an approach to teaching and learning that is at the heart of Project MASH, a social network for educators, students, and the organizations that serve them. Visit for student activities and projects from The Exploratory and others that rely on these and other unique teaching strategies.