Using a Maker Space to Understand Mental Models

After introducing grade 7 and 8 students to Mental Models - a foundation concept for Integrative Thinking, our task now is to help them develop concrete understanding as well as the ability to recognize their own mental models and how those models can be limiting.

We decided to address this by holding a Maker Day. Students were asked to bring in 10 random objects that were of little value and that would not be returned. This was a frustrating task for many. Not knowing the purpose for the objects made it difficult for students to decide what might be appropriate. A few students were able to scrounge up some objects and I added an old toy telephone,  paper towel tubes, broken keyboards, old webcams, a shampoo bottle, and clothes pegs to the collection. Students soon got the idea. It took a week to fill our box.

Our school is fortunate to have a movable cart with building tools - glue guns, saws, clamps, hammers, hand drills etc. I supplemented this with a variety of fasteners, wrenches, screwdrivers, wires, and tape.

I introduced the lesson by holding up an empty cookie tin, asking what it was and receiving the expected "cookie tin" response to which I replied, "No it isn't it's a wheel," and rolled it across a desk. "What else is it?" It didn't take long for students to hop into play,

"a hat ... a frisbee ...a boat ...a chair ..."

I then explained the activity. Students were free to use the objects they had brought in to turn them into something else, commonly known as hacking.

Next I asked students to think about what objects actually do. We generated a long list that included concepts such as:

contain
support
hinge
flip
rotate
bounce
roll
open
close
slide
bend
flex
spring

I spoke about safety and that when taking things apart, the purpose was not to destroy, but to take apart carefully to see the components and to think about how the parts might be used differently.

Students then spread all the objects they had brought in across desks. They were to work with a partner and allowed to choose 5 objects to begin. The level of excitement was exceptional. Talk about engagement! For the next 75 minutes students took apart and built. Not once during that time did I have to redirect anyone - except to suggest choosing a work space farther away from our computers as the glue gun was dripping on the keyboard.

There has been much written about the value of Maker Spaces in schools, and it is not my intention to address that here except to say that:

1. Disengaged students who typically stare at the teacher become fully engaged, animated and readily enter into thinking and problem-solving.

2. Students need time to think. I observed one student spend the first 30 minutes wandering - something that he might be chastised for by a teacher who doesn't really understand the importance of process. "Why aren't you building?" is a question that might shut a thinker down or cause him to begin building because he has to build something rather than because he has an idea. A teacher can easily destroy agency and the pleasure of thinking even in an activity as engaging as this. This student then took a keyboard and began taking it apart. He spent the next 20 minutes taking apart everything he could find. It was only during the last 10 minutes that he rejoined his partner and began building.

The Sound of Engagement

Creativity in Action

The Tool Center

Zombie Barbie

Reinventing Keyboards

This build ended up with a masking tape seat connecting two desks together - strong enough to hold a grade 7 student - and a mechanized jousting tool.

The Flipinator

After clean-up I received feedback:


Best Activity Ever Award


I asked students why they had enjoyed the activity so much. To which one student replied - "You trusted us. You gave us complete freedom and tools to build whatever we wanted. To use all our own ideas and we didn't have to follow any instructions. We never get to do that in school."


I then asked if they had learned during this task. All nodded. When I asked what, one girl replied with a bit of wonder and realization in her voice, "We learned we can make anything from anything." That was new to many of them.

The next day's debrief returned to the idea of Mental Models. Nogah Kornberg from Rotman was helpful in suggesting ways to frame the discussion. She suggested introducing The Visual Alphabet and having the students draw their stories of what had happened the previous day and then compare their models. They loved this activity but the significance of their partners having different mental models was too abstract a concept for many in the class.



I redirected the discussion with a new question: Had their understanding of what school can be - the model they hold in their heads of school - changed after experiencing The Maker Day? Several students were able to articulate a shift, but this was still too abstract for many.

I think for this age group this early in the year, a more concrete question would be sufficient. "How has your mental model of objects changed".

Next week the other grade 7 class as well as the 3 grade 8 classes will have the opportunity to participate in Maker Day.  We will debrief in different ways to see if there is a difference in conceptual understanding of Mental Models in different age groups. We are also curious about how the students who where introduced to Integrative Thinking last year will respond to the questions.