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You
are here: Inventing Workshops: Hands on Technology
by Ed Sobey
Imagine yourself as a child having an uncle who is a prolific inventor. When you visit, he invites you to go into his inventing workshop to see his latest project. The workshop is full of tools, materials, and dozens of projects in various states of completion. Construction plans, wild designs, and lists of things to do are tacked to the walls. This is a magical space where creative ideas are cherished and everything is possible.
As you wander through his workshop, your uncle suggests you make something.
"Really?" you ask. "I could invent something?"
"Sure you could," he assures you. "If you know what you want to make, I'll show you where to find the tools and materials you'll need. If you don't have an idea, let me suggest you start making an electric car model."
You jump at the opportunity and soon are immersed in wiring an electric motor to a switch and battery. You don't know it, but you're learning the basics of electricity. Even more important, you're developing self-confidence in your skills to make things. Soon, you'll be tackling more complicated projects - and loving every minute.
We want to build such a magical place and make it available to all the kids in Seattle. A small group of inventors and educators is creating the first two Community Inventing Workshops in the Pacific Northwest. One will open in the east side of King County and the other will be in Seattle. Both Workshops will help kids learn how to use tools and materials and how to solve technical problems, as well as how to work with others. Kids will learn a variety of skills while they work on projects.
Kids will visit the workshop to make a fun toy and will be encouraged to improve it and to develop their own ideas for inventions. The Workshops will be places where kids and adults share skills, ideas and knowledge and where tools and materials are available for projects. For some, the Workshops will be launch pads into technical or scientific careers. For others the Workshops will be a diversion that lets them exercise their creative ideas in designing and building three-dimensional toys, gadgets, and gizmos.
Kids will wander into the Workshops after school and on weekends. If they are new to the workshops they will probably work on a project of the day, suggested by the workshop director. Experienced kids will be encouraged to work on their own projects and to help other kids. Some may work on science fair or invention contest projects, and others will be "messing around with ideas."
Adult volunteers will be on-hand to show kids how to use tools and how to put things together. Rather than offering fixed classes, Workshops will offer individualized instruction aimed at meeting the specific learning needs of projects. Participants will figure out what they need to know and what skills they need to complete their projects and Workshop volunteers will help them gain those skills.
The Workshops will also offer classes in a wide range of disciplines. From woodworking to welding to sewing and photography, Workshops will be centers of applied learning, open to all.
Operating expenses will be funded through a combination of fund raising and user fees. Drop-in programs for kids will be offered at no charge. People attending classes will be asked to pay fees. Businesses and individuals will contribute tools and materials. Most of these donations will be used at the Workshops, but the surplus will be collected for an annual auction will convert donated tools into cash to pay the rent. Other income will come from contributions, grants, and memberships.
A National Science Foundation (NSF) grant will help launch the Seattle Workshop. NSF has supported several community science workshops in California through a program administered by San Francisco State University. Now the University is promoting the workshop approach to learning at ten sites around the country and NSF is providing the funds. New Horizons for Learning is working with our group of inventors and educators to submit a proposal to receive funding for the first workshop in the Pacific Northwest.
Cities that have workshops strongly support them. They have seen how the workshops have changed the lives of middle and high school students from hanging out and getting drawn into the street scene into using their minds and building their skills. The NSF funded program in Fresno was so successful that the City took over full funding responsibility when NSF funds ran out. Impressed with the results of the first workshop, the City has just opened a second workshop in Fresno.
Other cities have launched workshops without NSF support. Leonardo's Basement in Minneapolis offers classes as well as drop in programs. It is financially viable and has a strong following in a city that already has a world-class science museum. In Little Rock, Arkansas, the workshop has made a huge difference in the lives of kids with attention deficit disorders. Workshop leaders there have discovered that these kids, although poor performers in school, thrive (and out perform other kids) in the workshop setting.
A study conducted by the Inverness Research organization showed how effective workshops are. Their report is available on line: www.inverness-research.org/reports/ab_cswrpt.html. Their conclusion is that workshops are effective and cost effective in helping kids learn and in keeping them out of trouble.
Unlike major science museums where visitors look at exhibits made by the staff, the Workshops are places where visitors design, build and test their new ideas. The Northwest Community Workshops will have open, supervised shops, staffed by successful inventors, retired craftsmen and educators, not intended for commercial applications, but to nurture ideas and foster learning.
Workshops are more hands-on, and provide more active learning than museums can. Kids can get involved in long-term projects and can decide to pursue what interests them. Since the workshops don't attempt to attract huge numbers of visitors, they can provide more individual learning opportunities.
In Seattle, the Workshops will also provide hands-on, inventing-based learning of science and technology for schools, corporations, and interest groups and will offer summer, weekend and evening classes. School groups will be able to reserve a workshop for an inventing project, like a school field trip, but only much more hands-on and minds-on. These field trips will be orientated to meeting the science content and processes standards specified by the state.
Although NSF funds will help support the Workshop in Seattle, there is no federal funding for the Eastside Workshop. We will solicit contributions of tools, materials, space, and funds to launch it. We'll also create a membership program where people interested in inventing, technology and kids can contribute to the progress and keep appraised of the results.
Our goal for the Community Inventing Workshop is to foster technical learning and acquisition of skills, build the self-confidence needed to succeed, and nurture the creative spirit that resides in us all. What we really want to do is change the lives of kids. And, who knows, one of them might grow up to be the Edison, Bell or Marconi of the 21st century.
Ed Sobey lives in Redmond, Washington. He develops science and inventing programs for use in classrooms, informal learning centers, and television. He has directed five museums, including Inventure Place, and teaches Museum Management at the University of Washington.
For more information on applied learning through hands on technology, see Ed's article "Kids Inventing to Learn."
Would you like to help launch Community Inventing Workshops in the Pacific Northwest? Please contact Ed Sobey, sobey@GTE.net.
© December 2002 New Horizons for Learning
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