1. Tinkering & MakING Get Started with Activities Set-up notes:
SET-UP and LOGISTICS
1. Groupings: Participants should work in small teams. Teams might self-select based on similar interests/ issue OR may be pre-assigned to save time.
2. Space set-up: A space where participants can easily work in groups works best. It’s also great to have access to a white board, chalk board, or wall space where white paper can be hung If you don’t have the wall space we have found that putting paper on the table for participants to write on to work just as well. Materials for tinkering and making should be on a separate table like a buffet leaving the work tables with scissors, tape, glue gun and other cutting and adhesive tools.
3. Materials: This power point, overhead projector, wall space or board for opening brainstorming, markers.
Printed simple circuit diagrams from page 21. Copper tape - LED lights - ; Coin Cell Battery - binder clip or circuit stickers from
4.TIMING: This is a half day PD. BREAKDOWN | Introduction (Slides 1-15): 1 hour | Activity Completion (Slides 16-29): 2 hours | Conclusion (Slides 30-31): 1 hour
5. Do Ahead: Prepare Squishy Circuits -
Circuit Blocks Print the comic book layouts onto 11x 17 paper.

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

3. What is Tinkering?
Tinkering is defined by dictionary.com as “attempt to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory way, often to no useful effect”

4. Tinkering is to engage with materials, tools and ideas to construct knowledge of their possibilities.
When people tinker, they “play” with different materials and tools to discover for themselves which work best to express their desired message.

5. Tinkering is open- ended and encourages self- motivated engagement in learning
The tinkering process usually begins when the student is curious about something and starts the process without knowing where it is going to lead.

6. What is Making?
Making is a phrase coined by Dale Dougherty of Make Magazine and Maker Faire. It has been recognized by the White House as one of the most effective ways to engage children in Science Technology Engineering Art and Math.

7. Making is learning by DOING
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.

8. Making is social. Making provides opportunity to collaborate and develop effective communication skills.
To make is to want to share a point of view or a narrative. Maker Faires around the world demonstrate the human need to connect with others through the sharing of what one has made.

9. Making develops a growth mindset that demonstrates how grit, flexible thinking, perspective-taking, perseverance and embracing failure leads to achievement and success.
The Growth Mindset was coined by Carol Dweck. “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”

10. 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.
The sustainability of our future is dependent on how well our children will be able to assess problems and invent solutions using tools that are not yet invented.

11. 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.
The Exploratory is an education think tank located in Culver City CA that creates products, services and spaces for children to develop innovative thinking skills.

12. The Tinker. Make. Innovate
The Tinker.Make.Innovate. program has been integrated into after school programs, in-school classes, library workshops, events and other informal learning environments. It was created to provide opportunities for facilitated/direct learning of skills where necessary while still having open-ended, creative experiences where students can experience trial and error, frustration tolerance and other growth mindset skills.

13. Tinker Phase : Developing Engagement
The Tinker Phase is key to having students engage and connect with the subject that will be the provocation of the project. It allows for open-ended exploration of ideas, brainstorming of problems that need to be solved, research, and development of empathy for the audience being designed for. A provocation is provided to the students that will further the teachers’ learning goals. The students are then provided with an activity that allows them to “think with their hands”. The students are encouraged to draw upon their own experience and to find a their own unique connection to the provocation.

14. Make: Building Skills and Knowledge
The Make phase of Tinker.Make.Innovate. is where skill building happens. Often, a provocation is used to stir the imagination and to be the right vehicle for the skill building identified by the educator. Educators develop activities that will allow for the construction of skills and knowledge with the help of mentors, like electrical engineers, structural engineers, scientists and artists.

15. Innovate Phase: Demonstrate skills and knowledge by inventing a solution to a problem
The Innovate phase is where everything comes together. Students are asked to invent a solution to a problem using design thinking and the skills that they gained in the make phase. They generate ideas through brainstorming possible solutions to the problems, they identified in the Tinker phase. They then brainstorm as many design ideas for that solution, make a plan to make sure that they are working with the resources they have - time, materials and tools. They then start with a paper prototype and share with their peers and teachers at plussing meetings. These plussing meetings provide opportunity to share the process, receive ideas and to test the concept. Over the prototyping phase, they make revisions, get feedback during plussing sessions, make more revisions until they are satisfied with their products. Then in the final stage, they share their creativity and innovative solution through a showcase where they demonstrate their mastery of skills, and their innovative solution.

16. Electric Comics R³ 

17. Tinker : Electric Comics R³
Time: 10 Minutes
Goal: To establish a baseline of knowledge on environmental issues and to develop a list of problems related to not recycling.
Brainstorm: What are some reasons to recycle, reuse and reduce? What happens to e-waste in 3rd world countries. Use Post-Its to put any and all ideas onto a large board.

18. Make: Circuits Blocks/Squishy Circuits
Time: 30 Minutes
Goal: Construct a fundamental understanding of simple circuits and parallel circuits
Provocation: Use Squishy Circuits to add 2 LED lights to a sculpture of trash!
The Exploratory makes it own Circuit Blocks. We offer a battery case with battery, a motor, a switch, an LED and a buzzer along with alligator cables. The students are asked to create a simple circuit with these materials. Squishy Circuits is an activity created by Ann Marie Thomas She provides recipes for conductive and insulating dough which then can be used to make sculptures that light up, power a motor, buzzers and more.

20. Make: Make a simple paper circuit
Time: 30 Minutes
Goal: Construct a fundamental understanding of simple and parallel circuits using paper, copper tape, LED lights and a paper switch.
Activity: Use the following templates to construct your understanding of simple circuits with 1 LED light and a parallel circuit for 2 or more lights.
Copper tape is something that can be purchased at Home Depot. It is put around the edges of raised vegetable gardens as an insect deterrent. The adhesive side of the copper tape is not conductive so be sure to add the legs of the LED lights on the shiny top side and secure with scotch tape. Make sure that all connections are tight and secure.

21. These diagrams show the use of Circuit Stickers
These diagrams show the use of Circuit Stickers. They can be purchased - You can also use regular LED lights that can be purchased online or at Radio Shack. Coin cell batteries can be purchased at drugstores. Be sure to make connections secure and to place circuit stickers on top of the copper tape and not on the bottom.
Diagrams - From Chibitronics Circuit Sticker Sketchbook.

22. Innovate: Electric Comics R³
Time: 90 minutes
Goal: Utilize the comic strip narrative to encourage the public to reduce, recycle and reuse - particularly e-waste.
In this phase, you will use the design thinking process to design a message that will draw attention to the benefits of recycling e-waste.
The comic book format is used as an engagement strategy. Students are usually familiar with the comic book format and it is also less intimidating than a blank sheet of paper.

23. Brainstorm
Time: 5 minutes
Remind yourself of the environmental problems you brainstormed in the Tinker phase. Add any new situations that have come to you during the Make phase.
Time: 15 minutes
Pick 2-3 people to work as a group. As a group, combine your post-its of problems and sort them into clusters of ideas. Pick a problem, your group would like to focus on.
Time: Brainstorm possible solutions for the problem you and your group want to work on.
Show the post its from the Tinker phase brainstorm and encourage participants to think of crazy ideas - pie in the sky ideas.

24. Ideate/Design
Time: 10 minutes
Do several quick sketches of your solution on paper. Pick your favorite 2 and your craziest 2.
Switch groups. Share your 4 ideas with new people.
Make design revisions and pick one design.
The short time frame encourages participants to “think with their hands” rather than think too much in their head.

25. Prototyping
Time: 45 Minutes
Goal: Create a comic book that uses LED lights, copper tape and a battery to will encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle e-waste.
Things to consider:
Notice that the 3 types of comic strip format. Which appeals to you the most? Which helps you to organize your ideas the best?
Have a variety of materials available to encourage creativity - markers, pens, pom poms, stickers, glue, color paper and more.

26. Comic Strip Formats You can use either of these formats or
make your own.
These are intended
to be inspiration.

27. Plussing Session
Time: 20 Minutes
Goal: Share 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
Depending on the number of participants, you may want to do this as a whole group or in smaller groups of 4-5 people.

28. Revise
Time: 20 Minutes
Goal: To 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.

29. Showcase Time: 20 Minutes
Goal: Share your process and demonstrate what you learned
Include in your presentation:
- The problem
- Your solution
- Your prototyping process
- How you used circuitry in your solution

30. Reflect on Project Time: 20 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?
Encourage participants to think about how to use making activities/tools in subjects other than science. Many times, we find that teachers remember science or engineering activities first and need encouragement to brainstorm ideas on how to apply tools to social studies, history and language arts.

31. Common Core and NGSS TIME: 20 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?