Edward Clapp

Edward first began working with Project Zero in 2006 as a research assistant for the Qualities of Quality project. Years later, Edward is now a principal investigator at Project Zero where he co-directs the Agency by Design (AbD) project with Shari Tishman. Following its initial investigation of the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning, the AbD research team is now collaborating with a cohort of teacher-researchers in Oakland, California to test and develop documentation and assessment strategies for design and maker-centered learning. Edward also co-directs the Creating Communities of Innovation (CCI) research initiative with Liz Dawes Duraisingh. Working in collaboration with educators and administrators who follow the American, British, Indian, and International Baccalaureate curricula within the GEMS Education network in the United Arab Emirates, the CCI project supports inquiry-driven professional development for teachers, with the goal of promoting innovative practices in schools. To support his work as a Project Zero researcher, Edward also co-teaches (with Carrie James) the HGSE course Thinking and Learning Today and Tomorrow: Project Zero Perspectives, while also co-instructing (with Jennifer Ryan) the HGSE online course Thinking and Learning in the Maker-Centered Classroom. Edward’s research interests include creativity and innovation, design and maker-centered learning, distributed teaching and learning, cultural participation, and contemporary approaches to arts teaching and learning. Edward is further committed to bridging the gaps between Project Zero frameworks and issues of access, equity, and inclusion throughout the broader educational sphere. Edward’s most recent book, Participatory Creativity: Introducing Access and Equity to the Creative Classroom, was published in 2016 by Routledge and his forthcoming book, Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds (co-authored with Jessica Ross, Jennifer Ryan, and Shari Tishman) will be published by Jossey-Bass later this year.