Process vs Product: Maker Spaces in a Consumer Culture
Appreciate the Process
At its core, hands-on maker education is not about the product but the process. Yet in our school maker spaces and in-school art programs, we're increasingly being asked to plan "one-off" or contained lessons in which students finish their projects in a single class period and take them home.
Take it home, take it home, take it home. We’re hearing that the kids need to take it home. That day. But these requests aren’t coming from the kids
A critical aspect of hands-on maker education is its inherent resistance to consumer culture, particularly the mindset of disposability. The maker movement champions creation over consumption, fostering a sense of responsibility and sustainability. It’s a conversation we’ve had with many parents, teachers, and administrators.
We’ve lost count of how often we’re approached after the conclusion of a school program, wanting an explanation as to why children aren’t taking something home every session.
It would be so easy to order kits from places like Temu or Oriental Trading and have the kids make them in 45 minutes and take them home. But how connected are you to something you’ve had contact with for only 30-45 minutes? When students engage with a project over weeks or even months, the learning journey goes beyond the mere act of creation.
A sustained interaction with something they’ve created fosters a deep connection to the work, encouraging a level of thoughtfulness and reflection seldom found in quick, one-off projects, and the risk of it ending up lost in a backpack, your house, and eventually a landfill, is greatly lowered.
By engaging students in the process of making, repairing, and understanding how things work, we empower them with skills and trades that are rapidly becoming scarce in our throw-away society.
Maker education goes beyond the classroom, instilling a lifelong appreciation for craftsmanship and the environmental ethics of reducing waste. Instead of succumbing to the convenience of purchasing inexpensive, mass-produced items only to discard them when they break, or throw them away when the next, newest product is featured on TikTok or Instagram, students learn the value and satisfaction of maintaining or fixing items.
This not only challenges the cycle of consumption but also reconnects them with the tangible, tactile world, encouraging a thoughtful approach to the objects in their lives and their impact on the planet. Through maker education, students become advocates for a more sustainable, less wasteful future, equipped with the skills to make meaningful contributions toward this goal.
Building Resilience Through Pivoting
Initial designs and plans, though starting points, are rarely the endgame. As students delve deeper, they learn an invaluable lesson: all creative processes are subject to change. As a result, design thinking enhances a child’s adaptability and also enriches problem-solving skills, preparing children for the unpredictable nature of real-world challenges. Without fail, the path from initial idea to final product is fraught with challenges and hurdles.
The necessity to pivot instills a resilience that is a cornerstone for personal and academic growth. It is what social-emotional learning is all about. Students learn that setbacks are not failures but opportunities for learning and redirection. The resilience that is cultivated through hands-on making equips them with the perseverance needed to tackle future challenges head-on.
Hands-on maker education celebrates process learning. It's in the doing, experimenting, failing, and succeeding where students reap valuable rewards. The emphasis on process over product shifts the focus from the end result to the skills and knowledge acquired during making. Critical thinking, collaboration, and technical skills are just the tip of the iceberg. Students also learn about patience, dedication, and the satisfaction of seeing a project through to its completion, regardless of its success or failure.
As educators and parents, our role is to guide children through this journey, encouraging them to see beyond the immediate horizon of "taking it home." It's about nurturing a mindset that values persistence, embraces change, and finds joy in discovery. By championing extended engagement with a single project, we prepare our students not just for the next project, but for life itself.