One thing our DIY OER did not touch upon is the hurdles that DIY faces. I really loved the breadth of feelings associated with DIY and wanted to specifically focus on the negative ones.
Building on conversations and ideas from the A2 – DIY thread:
- What are the largest barriers to DIY?
- How have you overcome negative emotions attached to DIY?
- How can we facilitate or support people to DIY who are intimated to start or feel like quitting?
These questions don’t necessarily have clear answers or a solution that works for everyone all the time. I think these questions are worthwhile to think of because there is a lot of overlap between DIY and learning anything – any teacher will encounter a student experiencing the same barriers.
When considering some of these hurdles I try and relate it to my classroom teaching grades 6 and 7. I think it’s important to connect with people who have done it before you. These people can help guide you with your ideas and goals, and they can also help you through various roadblocks you might encounter. My immediate hesitations might be when thinking about how to acquire tools and materials to allow for a variety of student projects. I’d imagine that parents over many years would donate many things you might need, and individual students can source some of their own materials for their desired projects. Also, I worked with a teacher who had a drill press in his classroom. This seems like something that many administrators might frown upon, but consulting him might help me navigate that issue.
Your next two questions seem to address motivation and creativity. This is something that we know students struggle with often and in many areas of school life, but perhaps this kind of activity/space along with enough time could really let some of them explore ideas and build valuable experience? Anyhow, learning more about DIY in education makes me want to explore that further with my students.
Thanks!
Hi Jonathon,
So if I understand correctly, you’re saying a community of makers and having the tools/materials needed at hand will lower roadblocks – I completely agree! Quite synonymous to a makerspace.
The motivation and creativity piece is more challenging. I like your thought on just time to explore in order to build up positive experience. It’s kind of like using exposure therapy to overcome fear.
Hi Adrian,
On your last point I think that the time to explore and play is important because students need practice to become comfortable with the design process and also comfortable with making mistakes and having things not work out the first time. I find so many of my students become frustrated when something doesn’t work the way they want it to the first time they try. It takes time and practice for them to be comfortable with the fact that their “prototypes” might not work out and that’s ok! They don’t understand right away that it’s an important part of the learning process.