When reading about the difference between tinkering and making, I began thinking about the arcade game activity in the innovation workshop. There was no instruction on what to make, no blueprint, there was simply materials that could be used in any creative form. Throughout those weeks I saw a large collection of different products ranging from robots to complex ski ball machines! During this activity, I found it was much more difficult for adults to tinker with the materials than for children. I was able to observe children designing, building, and refining their designs in order to reach their desired goal. However, if there was no intent or set goal established before building, there was no tinkering, it was simply putting pieces together with no end goal.
I feel as though having two Sparks in the Innovation workshop, especially on the weekends or on busy days would allow more people to experience all of the learning dimensions of the Making and Tinkering Framework. While one spark is greeting guests, restocking materials, cleaning, etc., the other would be setting goals with the visitors, dissecting and troubleshooting problems, and encouraging creativity. Often times I feel as though in the workshop there are so many opportunities that are missed. For example during the arcade building activity the learning dimensions I observed most frequently were Initiative and Intentionality though active participation and setting goals and Creativity and Self-expression however I feel that the other three learning dimensions could have been reached if there was a second body setting goals with guests and collaborating on projects.
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