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Harvard Wants to Know: How Does the Act of Making Shape Kids Brains?

A group of Harvard researchers is teaming up with schools in Oakland, Calif . to explore how kids learn through making. T hrough an initiative called Project Z ero, theyre investigating the theory that kids learn best when theyre actively engaged in designing and creating projects to explore concepts. Its closely aligned with the idea of design thinking and the Maker Movement thats quickly taking shape in progressive education circles. T hough its still in very early stages just launched at the beginning of this school year researchers and educators at the school want to know how kids learn by tinkering f ooling around with something until one understands how it works. T hey want to know what happens cognitively how this learning process helps f orm habits of mind, builds character and how it af f ects the individual. To do that, they are working with both private and public schools in Oakland, headed by the Harvard researchers and 15 participating teachers who meet in study groups every six weeks to share ideas and to f orm a community. Its not a lesson plan; its not a curriculum; its a way to look at the world. Harvard will give teachers specif ic activities to incorporate into the lessons they already plan to teach. Educators will report back to the researchers on how the class behaved and what they noticed about their students through surveys and conversations. Schools have been really open to this, said Jennif er Ryan, the Project Z ero coordinator. Its not a lesson plan; its not a curriculum; its a way to look at the world. IDEAS AND ACT IVIT IES

T he most recent activity required students to spend time examining an object f irst looking at all its parts individually, then examining what each part does and how that f its within the whole, and ultimately identif ying the complexities of the object. An elementary school teacher did this activity with physical objects in the classroom, like tennis shoes. At Oakland International High School, the technology teacher had students examine a Google Doc. Some teachers took the exercise a step f urther and had students re-purpose the object by redesigning it to be something else. In my experience with the kids, it allows them to more quickly gain a deeper understanding of what makes up that object and its purposes and its complexities, said Ilya Pratt, Director of the DesignME program at Park Day School, an independent elementary and middle school. Pratt hopes that by designing things f rom an early age, kids will be able to explain concepts theyve learned spatially. As kids try to express their understanding in three dimensions it adds so much more to how they engage with a concept and wrap their mind around it, she said.

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Project Z ero is also asking teachers to look at student work dif f erently. Rather than judging it based on the criteria they have in mind at the outset of the lesson, teachers are encouraged to take more time examining the work and the mind that created it bef ore coming to a judgment. Project Z ero has given teachers thinking routines to go through in order to practice a dif f erent way of seeing student work. For the researchers the collaboration is about understanding theoretical questions around how children learn and whats going on in the brain when they create, but its also about what happens on the ground, in classrooms. T hats unusual f or them. You get to see it in action and things happen that maybe you didnt expect, or that are very provocative and it allows you to change directions in ways you might not have otherwise, Pratt said. Shes excited about the iterative approach and hopes that by the end of the three-year project they will not only have produced academic research in how design thinking af f ects education, but they will also know what works and what doesnt in the classroom. Explore: design thinking, Harvard, Project Z ero Previous Article A Case f or Educating Future Voters Next Article Why Googling It Is Not Enough