Agency by Design

Exploring documentation and assessment strategies for maker-centered learning

IN: Arts & Aesthetics - Making & Design

Educational initiatives that emphasize making, design, engineering, and tinkering have been gaining traction in schools and organizations across the country. While maker-centered learning is not a new concept, recent and emerging trends suggest a new kind of hands-on pedagogy—a responsive and flexible pedagogy that encourages community and collaboration (a do-it-together mentality), distributed teaching and learning, and crossing boundaries.

Agency by Design (AbD) is a multiyear research initiative at Project Zero investigating the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning experiences.

Maker Empowerment, Sensitivity to Design Diagram. Three sections rotating in a continuous circle. Looking Closely -> Exploring Complexity -> Finding Opportunity.

Maker Empowerment: A sensitivity to the designed dimension of objects and systems, along with the inclination and capacity to shape one’s world through building, tinkering, re/designing, or hacking.

Sensitivity to Design: Learning to notice and engage with one’s physical and conceptual environment by looking closely and reflecting on the design of objects and systems, exploring the complexity of design, and finding opportunity to make objects and systems more effective, more efficient, more ethical, or more beautiful.