MAKE: MAKE sat down for an interview with Lisa Brahms (Director of Learning and Research) and Adam Nye (MAKESHOP Manager) from the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. The Q&A mostly swirled around the museum’s MAKESHOP, both a program and a space inside the museum where kids and adults alike make things and learn about real stuff, from electricity and electronics to woodworking and sewing.
10 comments:
The Makeshop seems like a fantastic idea. Kids don't have the same opportunities that kids used to have in terms of handy crafts and related skills. Learning about woodworking, electricity, or sewing can teach kids valuable skills they might have difficulty picking up else where. Skills like that prove useful in life and having experience with them can benefit kids later in life.
This might possibly be the most fantastic thing I've ever heard of. I remember as a child loving going to the Houston Children's Museum & my favorite part was always the stuff I could "play with." We never had anything as interactive as Makeshop, but I was fortunate enough to be exposed to sewing by my grandmother at the young age of six and thats when I discovered my passion in life. I think its an amazing thing that CMP is doing to provide opportunities in those basic life skill areas. I realize that it necessarily lead to a life long love of electrics, woodwork, or sewing, but to be exposed to any of those at such a young age would be so beneficial in a child's development of life skills and would certainly help them later on. I really think everyone needs to at least be able to accomplish basic tasks in all three areas. Its also really important to establish and oppression for the "real" in todays children who are growing up in our world of virtual reality. If Makeshop or a version of it is still around when I have children, I will definitely be taking them there.
Also that sounds like it would be such a great job, my two loves in life are sewing and teaching children, so i will possibly be looking into that during the summer.
When I was young, I really enjoy going to interactive museums with my parents. Just looking at those pictures in the article, it reminds me of my childhood involving those activities. So, I am certain that children will love this Makeshop, in which kids interact with tools and machines not only to learn how it operates daily-life tools but also to have fun. As long as kids are being careful about dealing the tools safely, they will have a memorable moment. Moreover, I think it is amazing how two school's research organizations collaborated together to operate this.
This is a brilliant idea. I remember I never liked museums as a child because there was nothing I could do and I was to young to actually understand what was going on. This is a good idea because it makes the experience more tangible for children and they will want to learn more. It will keep them entertained at museums from a young age so that when they get older they will have a greater desire to go.
I wish I was a kid so I could do some of these workshops - or maybe I can borrow someone's kids for the day because it appeals to me as an adult as well.
The concept of learning by doing is nothing new. I don't think anyone -except for those 12th century monks trying to figure out how many angels can fit on a head of needle - would disagree with this. What we often overlook is what is learned by doing. I don't think these shops are specifically designed to teach children the craft of making things, though that is an inevitable consequence. Teaching children how to make things teaches respect for a craft, improves self-esteem, and boosts creativity.
Far too often I feel we look for toys to teach these lessons to children. But there's a danger in trying to forcefully associate learning with play. The two are related, no doubt but there is a disconnect between education, time to be serious, and play, time to have fun. Toys may not be the best life-lesson teaching tool because of this separation. (You don't want to eliminate toys altogether though. Look at Egon, he only had part of slinky growing up.) These Makeshops will be a great to coalesce learning and play.
The sounds incredible. When I was a kid I would've loved to be able to play around in a place like this; truthfully I'd still love to play around in a place like this, which is probably why I'm studying at Carnegie Mellon.
I was a especially appreciative of the focus the MAKESHOP puts on interaction with tangible things. The recent surge in touch-screen based technology has begun to spill over into a education. It scares me, because although I think that's really cool, I know that many children (my former/current self included) learn best through real hands-on learning.
I have a lot of fond memories of going to interactive children's' museums with my mother. I hope a new generation gets to experience learning in such a fun setting at the MAKESHOP.
This makes me want to be 10 years old again. Well this and the free lunches. Piggy-backing on the last comment concerning internet connectivity on campus, this type of initiative that presents kids with a physical problem, provides elements to solve it, and then stands back to let them succeed, fail, design, re-interpret and re-purpose is exactly the kind of counter balance to the technology infused, in loco parentis educational system we have inherited. I've had the fortune of working on displays for the Museum of Science in Boston and the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and I can tell you there has rarely been a more rewarding experience than seeing a kid explore and learn from those displays. I think the nostalgic tone of the comments attached to this post attests to the impact tactile learning like this can have on kids and the lasting impression it can have on our relationship to the world around us. While everyone else retreats further and further into the ether-sphere, I hope folks in our industry will keep throwing rocks at the windows, asking the world to come out and play.
I think this is an amazing way to get kids interested in museums. As a child i can say that i would love to come to this. Something about working with ones hands is not only very educational but makes things more intuitively learned. I personally can only mostly learn by doing and this is an opportunity for children to learn in a way they dont get to in school.
I think this is a great way for people to draw kids away from video games and t.v. and other normals and go out to have a great time. This does not only build a base knowledge for if a child would like to explore some thing in that field later in life but also gives a chance for children to learn valuable live skills on how to build something, or fix it. There should be more programs like this across the country.
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