Introduction to Maker-Centered Learning: Developing Student Agency & Sensitivity to Design

In the course, participants will:

• learn about the concepts of maker empowerment and sensitivity to design and the impact these concepts can have on student learning when teachers begin to incorporate them in their teaching.
• explore the three “maker capacities” and the learning activities that help students develop these capacities. 
• experiment with some of the tools and resources in the maker-centered learning toolkit developed by Agency by Design and try out some of those tools in their own context.

By the end of this course, educators will be able to:

• draw on maker-centered learning concepts to design hands-on, minds-on learning experiences that engage students deeply, spark their curiosity, and sustain their motivation throughout the learning process.
• offer students the support they need in order to systematically develop their sense of agency and sensitivity to design.
• use the resources and tools in the maker-centered learning toolkit to revise existing lesson plans or develop new ones that create opportunities for students to become the drivers of their own learning.

This course is open to teachers in pre-K through 12 schools working in any subject area; educators in contexts outside of schools (e.g., museums, maker spaces, industry, studios, after-school programs, camps); and administrators wanting to learn more about how these pedagogies can assist their faculty and program staff to reach learners in deeper and more differentiated ways.

Course Designers & Instructors

Course Designer & Instructor: Edward P. Clapp is a principal investigator at Project Zero interested in exploring creativity and innovation, design and maker-centered learning, contemporary approaches to arts teaching and learning, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in education. Edward and his colleagues explore these issues with their teacher partners through a variety of different collaborative inquiries: Creating Communities of Innovation (Dubai, United Arab Emirates); Creando Communidades de Indigación (Lima, Peru); Agency by Design: Early Childhood in the Making (Hong Kong), and; Agency by Design: Making Across the Curriculum (Washington, DC). In addition to his work as a researcher, Edward is also a Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Edward’s most recent books include Participatory Creativity: Introducing Access and Equity to the Creative Classroom (Routledge, 2016) and Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds (with Jessica Ross, Jennifer Oxman Ryan, and Shari Tishman, Jossey-Bass, 2016). @edwardpclapp

What past participants are saying:

“The Maker-Centered Learning routines provide a natural framework for students to design with empathy—empowered to look closely at the world around them and consider ways to make it better. It has helped my students see that just because something is the way it is today doesn't mean that is what it has to be for the future. It has pushed my students’ thinking to deeper levels. I am excited to share these routines during workshops next year so more of my colleagues can start using this framework.”

“The Agency by Design framework takes students’ learning experiences from theory or abstract thinking to hands-on to actually implement thinking. Students can start to see the power they have when working through these thinking routines and start to feel like systems/situations are malleable. The more the routines are practiced, the better students get to look closely, explore complexity, and find opportunity.”

“The course’s Agency by Design framework can be applied to a vast number of lessons to enhance and extend the learning, meeting the learner where they are at—a meaningful form of differentiation for all levels of learners.”

“I was surprised how much insight many of the course’s thinking routines added to my classroom and my students' understanding of the design of math and its place in the world. Helping students adopt a way of thinking that allows them to look closely, examine complexity, develop empathy, and recognize interconnectedness makes learning more meaningful no matter what the subject.”

Online Course Schedule

Orientation and course site introduction for the mini courses is available no later than two days prior to the course launch.

• All participants will receive email invitations to the course site three days prior to the course start. The required review of the course policies assignment is available during the “Getting Ready” self-guided orientation to the site.
• Remember, if you joined the course as an individual and not as a member of an already formed team, you will be placed on a virtual team and will be sent an email introducing you to your virtual team members no later than 4 days prior to the course launch.
• We strongly recommend all teams schedule their weekly, required 60- 90 minute team meetings prior to the start of the course. Usually scheduling team meetings toward the end of each week is most helpful so all members have time to complete assignments in advance of the meeting.

Creating Cultures of Thinking: An Introduction (CCoT-I)

• Week 1: Monday, October 3
• Week 2: Monday, October 10
• Week 3: Monday, October 17
• Week 4: Monday, October 24
• Course Closes: Sunday, October 30

An Introduction to Maker-Centered Learning (IMCL)

• Week 1: Monday, October 24
• Week 2: Monday, October 31
• Week 3: Monday, November 7
• Week 4: Monday, November 20
• Course Closes: Sunday, November 20

The Power of Making Thinking Visible (PMTV)

• Week 1: Monday, January 16
• Week 2: Monday, January 23
• Week 3: Monday, January 30
• Week 4: Monday, February 6
• Course Closes: Sunday, February 12

Creating Cultures of Thinking: Investigating the Forces that Shape Culture (CCoT-IFSC)

• Week 1: Monday, March 6
• Week 2: Monday, March 13
• Week 3: Monday, March 20
• Week 4: Monday, March 27
• Course Closes: Sunday, April 2

Let’s Play (LP)

• Week 1: Monday, April 17
• Week 2: Monday, April 24
• Week 3: Monday, May 1
• Week 4: Monday, May 8
• Course Closes: Sunday, May 14

Who Should Participate

Required Course Textbook

The following textbook is required for participants in this course, and is not included in the course tuition. The textbook is available for purchase on Amazon or through the publisher Jossey-Bass — in both paper and digital format.

• Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds. Edward P. Clapp, Jessica Ross, Jennifer Oxman Ryan, & Shari Tishman. (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2016)

Tuition, Discounts, and Scholarships

Tuition

• For In-Depth Courses (6 sessions, 13 weeks), tuition is $615 per person registering as a member of a team, and $695 per person registering as an individual who will be placed (by Project Zero) on a virtual team.
• For Mini Courses (4 sessions, 4 weeks), tuition is $295 per person registering as a member of a team, and $375 per person registering as an individual who will be placed (by Project Zero) on a virtual team.

Large Group Discount

For groups of 10 or more people registering for either the in-depth or the mini courses, discounts are available. Email pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu for details and registration instructions. Group discounts are not applied retroactively.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available for educators from qualifying organizations. For online courses (in-depth and mini courses) offered from September 2022 through June 2023, scholarships will cover approximately 70% of the tuition. Eligibility guidelines and the application link are below. Scholarship applications must be submitted and accepted prior to registration for the course. If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please do NOT register for the online course until you have completed the scholarship application and have been approved for scholarship. Those who register for the online course prior to applying for a scholarship will become ineligible for the scholarship. Please note: scholarships are limited and are assessed and awarded on a first come, first serve basis.

Eligibility guidelines: With generous support from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation and many individual donations honoring Project Zero’s 50th anniversary in 2017, Project Zero is able to offer a limited number of professional learning scholarships to support a range of schools, districts, and organizations as well as a diverse group of educators. These scholarships aim to support teams of educators and individual educators working in under-resourced contexts and/or with historically marginalized students.

• In the United States, public school educators working in schools with a free and reduced lunch rate of 25% or more OR educators working primarily with students who attend these schools.
• Outside of the United States, educators whose schools or organizations serve 25% or more students whose families meet the country-defined standard for low-income.

Apply for a Scholarship

Registration

Register for the Online Course

Confirmation and Payment

Registration confirmations are sent automatically from the registration software. Please keep these emails as they include your receipt of payment for documentation as well as your confirmation number should you need to access your registration in the future.

Payments are accepted via credit card or invoice for payment by check or wire transfer. Confirmation of registration does not confirm full payment if participants selected to pay other than by a credit card. All required paperwork and payments must be completed (or evidence provided of payments in process) by the registration deadline. For participants whose required paperwork and/or payments are not finalized at the registration deadline, they will be removed from the course roster and placed on a wait list.

Deadline for Registration

For Creating Cultures of Thinking: An Introduction (CCoT-I) starting October 3, 2022, the deadline for registration is Monday, September 19, 2022 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

For An Introduction to Maker-Centered Learning (IMCL) starting Monday, October 24, 2022, the deadline for registration is Monday, October 10, 2022 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

For The Power of Making Thinking Visible (PMTV) starting Monday, January 16, 2023, the deadline for registration is Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

For Creating Cultures of Thinking: Investigating the Forces that Shape Culture (CCoT-IFSC) starting Monday, March 6, 2023, the deadline for registration is Monday, February 20, 2023 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

For Let’s Play (LP) starting Monday, April 17, 2023, the deadline for registration is Monday, April 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

Please note: Space is limited. The courses may fill prior to the registration deadline.

Refund Request and Participant Substitution Deadlines

Requests for refunds and participant substitutions for the CCoT-I course starting October 3, 2022 must be submitted by Monday, September 19, 2022 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

Requests for refunds and participant substitutions for the IMCL course starting October 24, 2022 must be submitted by Monday, October 10, 2022 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

Requests for refunds and participant substitutions for the PMTV course starting January 16, 2023 must be submitted by Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

Requests for refunds and participant substitutions for the CCoT-IFSC course starting March 6, 2023 must be submitted by Monday, February 20, 2023 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

Requests for refunds and participant substitutions for the Let's Play course starting April 17, 2023 must be submitted by Monday, April 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm Boston time.

To request a refund, submit a participant substitution, or to ask questions, please email pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.