Yesterday, I made a visit to thinkhaus on Dundurn St. in Hamilton. It is a shared tinkering space for tech-minded people interested in DIY and hacking. I have been following links on hacking culture for some time and was pleased to find that it is alive and well in my city.
Tuesday nights are open to anyone and when I tweeted that I planned to go, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, a member of my PLN that I'd never met face 2 face tweeted back that she was familiar with the space and would be happy to accompany me. So Zoe, my husband and I went. And what a delightful discovery it was.
It occupies the top floor of an old house near the Staircase Theatre. It is a comfortable space packed with equipment including several 3D printers, a laser cutter, computers, circuit boards, routers and ... lots of stuff. Members with an interest in technology come to build, play, test and invent. Richard and Trevan gave us a tour and patiently answered questions. They also demonstrated various inventions and I finally got to see arduino.
It was Richard who summed up hacking culture best, "We obtain a piece of purpose-built equipment and then we think, this is what it was built to do, but can we get it to do this?" and the equipment gets hacked, changed and altered. Richard described several stages that the laser cutter has gone through from when it first arrived to what it can do now.
It was also Richard who explained process. We get an idea. We build, test,discuss, seek input, alter, try again. change, improve and learn. When something doesn't work, we don't say, "What did we do wrong, but rather, what did we not consider that caused this outcome?"
Thinkhaus is really a miniature version of MIT's MediaLab - smaller and not funded, of course, but the principles are the same. Working in a collective tinkering space allows a wider skill-set to become involved in projects. Every member is given a key to the space and has 24 hour access, so that if at 2 in the morning someone finally discovers a solution to a technical problem, they can set to work.
I have to say I felt a bit as if I had walked onto the set of the Big Bang Theory. Caution, "Geniuses at Work". The popcan crusher was cool. It consisted of a compressor and a piston from Princess Auto. Wooden blocks attached to the piston held in an empty computer case. With 200lbs of force it crushed the can. Everyone cheered. It was fun and this space made me want to learn and think differently.
It was Zoe who engaged one of the members in conversation about females in this kind of space. There are currently 20 members, all of them male. It's not that females are not welcome... they are very welcome, and I was encouraged to return. Members would be happy to teach and share what they know.
Why aren't there more females tinkering in this space?
It made me think just how important the question my grade 7's are currently considering about the constructed teen is. "How would I be different, if the messages I had been exposed to were different?"
That overwhelming bombardment they experience of what it means to be female, centered on visual appearance and having stuff ... what if the messages instead were about experimenting, inventing, designing, creating, testing and learning through experience?
How different would our learners be if instead of having kindergarten children be required to sit on the carpet, and listen, they were asked, "What's your idea? How can we build it? Let's learn to write by writing about it. Let's read books to learn more about your idea. Let's test your idea out. What are you going to invent? What does your friend know that could help you build your idea?" What if instead of grooming cooperative listeners and instruction followers, we groomed inventors?
Given the enormous problems that we as a civilization face at this moment in time, this is truly a very serious question. What genius is being left untouched, what ideas are never ever thought because the messages have encouraged our children to think something else?
Tuesday nights are open to anyone and when I tweeted that I planned to go, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, a member of my PLN that I'd never met face 2 face tweeted back that she was familiar with the space and would be happy to accompany me. So Zoe, my husband and I went. And what a delightful discovery it was.
It occupies the top floor of an old house near the Staircase Theatre. It is a comfortable space packed with equipment including several 3D printers, a laser cutter, computers, circuit boards, routers and ... lots of stuff. Members with an interest in technology come to build, play, test and invent. Richard and Trevan gave us a tour and patiently answered questions. They also demonstrated various inventions and I finally got to see arduino.
It was Richard who summed up hacking culture best, "We obtain a piece of purpose-built equipment and then we think, this is what it was built to do, but can we get it to do this?" and the equipment gets hacked, changed and altered. Richard described several stages that the laser cutter has gone through from when it first arrived to what it can do now.
It was also Richard who explained process. We get an idea. We build, test,discuss, seek input, alter, try again. change, improve and learn. When something doesn't work, we don't say, "What did we do wrong, but rather, what did we not consider that caused this outcome?"
Thinkhaus is really a miniature version of MIT's MediaLab - smaller and not funded, of course, but the principles are the same. Working in a collective tinkering space allows a wider skill-set to become involved in projects. Every member is given a key to the space and has 24 hour access, so that if at 2 in the morning someone finally discovers a solution to a technical problem, they can set to work.
I have to say I felt a bit as if I had walked onto the set of the Big Bang Theory. Caution, "Geniuses at Work". The popcan crusher was cool. It consisted of a compressor and a piston from Princess Auto. Wooden blocks attached to the piston held in an empty computer case. With 200lbs of force it crushed the can. Everyone cheered. It was fun and this space made me want to learn and think differently.
It was Zoe who engaged one of the members in conversation about females in this kind of space. There are currently 20 members, all of them male. It's not that females are not welcome... they are very welcome, and I was encouraged to return. Members would be happy to teach and share what they know.
Why aren't there more females tinkering in this space?
It made me think just how important the question my grade 7's are currently considering about the constructed teen is. "How would I be different, if the messages I had been exposed to were different?"
That overwhelming bombardment they experience of what it means to be female, centered on visual appearance and having stuff ... what if the messages instead were about experimenting, inventing, designing, creating, testing and learning through experience?
How different would our learners be if instead of having kindergarten children be required to sit on the carpet, and listen, they were asked, "What's your idea? How can we build it? Let's learn to write by writing about it. Let's read books to learn more about your idea. Let's test your idea out. What are you going to invent? What does your friend know that could help you build your idea?" What if instead of grooming cooperative listeners and instruction followers, we groomed inventors?
Given the enormous problems that we as a civilization face at this moment in time, this is truly a very serious question. What genius is being left untouched, what ideas are never ever thought because the messages have encouraged our children to think something else?
I listened to a CBC Spark episode I believe that talked about these spaces all over. I believe they visited one in Hamilton. Curious that they mentioned that members in most of these places were mostly male. I can't remember if they interviewed a female member. Good question for you MY students. And a very good question about our kindergarten. That's why I'm encouraged by the Early Learning in our province - SK. We aren't just sitting in a circle and listening but we are asking them those questions and then helping them as they go about solving. Thanks for the great article.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I am so pleased to know that kindergarten programs are changing their focus. I think it makes it more fun for everyone! This year Ontario has returned to play-based learning. We have a way to go in implementation, but are at least headed in the right direction.
Inspirational! Thanks Heidi.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it useful Maureen.
ReplyDelete