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, audio speakers (for short video), wall space or board for opening brainstorming, markers. TIMING: This is a 90 minute PD. BREAKDOWN | Introduction (Slides 1-13): 15 minutes | Activity Completion (Slides 14-17): 55 minutes | Conclusion (Slides 18-21): 20 minutes
5. Do Ahead: Prepare Squishy Circuits -
Circuit Blocks

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. Tinker : Spy Vs Spy
Time: 10 Minutes
Goal: Assess what you know about electricity and circuitry and what you want to know about electricity and circuitry.
During this activity, you will construct your own knowledge of how electricity and circuitry work by playing with Squishy Circuits and Circuit Blocks.
At The Exploratory, we have found that students like to make things that allow for connection with other people. Spy vs Spy works really well, because it seems that everyone has a spying problem that they need a spy gadget for. In the same vane as pranks and other ways of connecting with others, a spy gadget is rewarding when it not only works for its intended purpose, but also facilitates connect with another.

17. Make: Circuits Blocks/Squishy Circuits
Time: 30 Minutes
Goal: Construct 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.
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. Here is the link to the tinkering studio’s list of materials and instructions - 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.

19. Plussing Session: Circuit Blocks/Squishy Circuits
Time: 10 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 experience with the circuit blocks and the squishy circuits.
Share what worked.
What didn’t work.
What you would do differently next time.
Ask questions of other participants.
Plussing is a phrase coined by Pixar, the computer animation production company. It differs from feedback in that it encourages peers to “add” and idea to the idea being shared and reduced negative feedback.

20. Reflection Activity
What other provocations might you use for the squishy circuit activity?
How else might you use the squishy circuit activity in different subjects/topics?
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.

21. Common Core and NGSS TIME: 10 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 and squishy circuits?