“Many kids don’t have garages or basements and have never had the opportunity to hold tools or operate equipment”, says Susan Crichton, director Innovative Learning Center, UBC Okanagan. “Maker Days in our classrooms are an opportunity to re-claim the human spirits’ desire to create, innovate, play and tinker.”
The Innovative Learning Centre hosted a day-long event to show K-12 teachers how to use a technique called design thinking in the classroom. Each group had to design a product that will help an elderly person out in public. The groups built all sorts of prototypes, from gardening tools for people with arthritis, to a device that helps people with low mobility pull up their pants, to a portable ramp that can help people lift their heavy suitcases on to the security conveyor belts at the airport. The goal of this project is to help incorporate “tinkering and making” into classrooms. This type of learning is going to be introduced in the beginning of December in schools in the Okanagan Valley. Teachers at the event said this was a great experience and were excited to be a part of this fun and creative way of learning.