Setting Up and Facilitating Tinkering Workshops with Educators: A Maker Ed Guide

Maker Ed’s Tinkering Workshops with Educators guide supports those seeking to provide professional development workshops for educators in tinkering, ultimately empowering educators to see themselves and their learners as makers and collaborators. Instead of an exacting recipe, this guide serves a resource and source of inspiration to support your own ways of providing impactful making experiences. The guide includes big picture themes to think through, including: topics to focus on, practices to use, and other considerations to contemplate when setting up a workshop. Additionally, it provides concrete information such as a suggested format and schedule with practical tips, approaches, and suggested tools and materials. Since 2012, Maker Ed has had the incredible privilege of providing a variety of workshops for educators, most often in professional development contexts. No two have been the same. As we tinker with our approaches, materials, and tools, we’re constantly striving to tailor and refine each experience to the needs of educators and, ultimately, make each experience better. We’re continually learning what it means to learn in the most effective and joyful ways possible. We hope you’ll find this guide useful, and invite you to send us your feedback and ideas at info@makered.org. Our organization: Maker Ed is a national non-profit organization that provides educators and institutions with the training, resources, and community of support they need to create engaging, inclusive, and motivating learning experiences through maker education. We envision every young person having equitable access to engaging learning experiences that collectively develop their skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking, and that recognize and value their ability to experience and influence their world. We work to make it possible for every educator in America—particularly those in underserved communities—to facilitate interactive, student-driven, and open-ended learning experiences for youth. Learn more at http://makered.org/.