Play. Create. Share. Be. Making, learning and youth development.
Rosanna Lopez
Sparklelab Design & Innovation Hub
455 P. Guevara Street
San Juan City, Metro Manila,
Philippines
+63 917 6212846
lopez_rosanna@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
In this paper, I share insights and best practices regarding the
maker movement, digital fabrication and youth development,
based on experiences as a designer and youth mentor at
Sparklelab Design & Innovation Hub, Manila.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
Maker movement. STEAM. Youth development.
General Terms
Digital Fabrication, Game-based Learning, Design Thinking,
Systems Thinking, Inquiry, Experimentation, Fun-Failure, Youth
Development, Community of Practice
Keywords
Making, Digital Fabrication, STEAM, Youth Development
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper is a reflection of experiences and best practices in
digital media, STEAM education, digital fabrication and making
as related to learning, community and youth development. The
paper draws on my experiences as a designer and youth mentor at
Sparklelab Design and Innovation Hub, Manila, Philippines.
2. SPARKLELAB
I founded Sparklelab Design and Innovation Hub in Manila,
Philippines in February of 2013. The Lab was conceived in part as
a maker space – where kids and adults could come together and
TINKER (with circuits, sensors, microcontrollers, robots);
EXPLORE (the affordances of old and new materials such as
wood, plastic, metal, pixels, conductive thread, conductive ink,
copper tape, code); DESIGN and DEVELOP (games, toys, books,
animations, interfaces); and SHARE their experiences and their
creations with one another and with communities of practice in
both physical and virtual worlds.
The Lab was also conceived as a research and development space,
where learning models grounded in game-based pedagogy, digital
fabrication, STEM and the arts could be designed, implemented,
and assessed.
Most of all, Sparklelab was conceived as A SPACE OF
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Conference’15, September 26–27, 2015, Palo Alto,CA, United States.
Copyright 2015 Rosanna Lopez
POSSIBILITY where passions are pursued; where curious objects
inspire wonder, delight the senses and captivate the mind; where
relationships are formed and negotiated, identities explored, and
where imagination rules the day.
3. WHAT WE DO AND WHY WE DO IT
3.1 Workshops
Sparklelab has six workshop offerings.
The Toy Mill is a toy-making workshop where kids take on
various roles including historians, anthropologists, designers and
play-futurists. Kids learn about the histories behind their favorite
toys and the interplay of purposeful design, accident and chance
in the creation of Silly Putty, the Slinky, Furbies and
Tamagotchis. During field trips, kids get a chance to visit toy
stores and take on the role of anthropologists: making
observations on toys, games, gender and conducting interviews
with parents, children and merchants regarding play. At the Lab,
kids imagine their own toys, develop prototypes and often times
integrate technology into their toys so they may talk, move, speak
and respond to their environment. Kids are issued design
challenges and are encouraged to dream up toys for kids of
different ages and for kids with special needs.
Stitches & Circuits is a workshop that focuses on fashion,
wearable technology and soft circuits. This workshop was initially
conceived as a means for engaging girls in STEM, but has come
to include many boys as well, who are particularly thrilled about
creating their own Cosplay outfits, portable speakers, LED and
pedometer-powered sneakers and hoodies equipped with joysticks
and Lilypad Arduino, which (quite literally) redefine mobile
gaming. Throughout the course of the Stitches and Circuits
workshops, kids learn about color theory and design. They
explore a wide array of materials, discovering their properties and
affordances. Participants also travel through time, learning about
the haute couture movement, World War 1, the Great Depression
and the rise of Hollywood fashion, the Flower Power era and
1980’s blazers inspired by the power suit for women. As they
travel through the history of fashion past, kids draw connections
between politics, economics, fashion and society. For instance,
they may debate how the war effort and limited material resources
influenced women’s fashion as well as societal values regarding
women. Could simpler cuts and more androgynous dress have
planted the seeds of modernity, rebellion and a re-definition of the
feminine? As the workshop comes to a close, participants are
challenged to imagine and purposefully design clothing for
fashion present and fashion future.
Gamemakers and Gamemakers 2.0 are workshops that focus on
play, game design, systems thinking, and iteration. Kids learn of
games as systems, inspired by Katie Salen’s model at Quest to
Learn. Kids engage in research, which entails hours and hours of
play. They begin designing board games, card games, and sports.
Once they understand how to develop goals and mechanics,
designate a game space, define rules and scaffold challenge, the
kids move on to developing digital games (using Scratch, Twine,
Game Salad, RPG Maker, 7 Scenes, G-MOD) or architecting live-
action games that encourage problem-solving and play in a real-
life setting.
Iterative design lies at the heart of Gamemakers. Kids design
games, develop prototypes, play test, and use feedback from
players in the redesign and refinement of their games.
Spark is a workshop that focuses on electronics and robotics. Kids
tinker with everyday materials, Makey Makeys, and Scratch –
developing unique and compelling ways by which physical
materials may interact with computers, games, and the Web. Kids
hang out with Furbies (and sometimes try to make them chat with
Siri). They create their own instruments and installation art pieces
with Little Bits, and use Lego Mindstorms to create Sparklelab
pets. Sometimes, the kids make radios and doorbells. Or turn the
Lab into a haunted asylum, filled with sensors, screams, jump
scares, CCTV cameras and evil nurses. Combined with the
Inventor Program and digital fabrication, Spark allows kids to
engage in design challenges and prototype solutions to a myriad
of problems.
Finally, Get Reel is a workshop that focuses on narrative and its
diverse forms. Kids learn the art of paper engineering and book
making, animation, film and the creation of role-playing games.
Kids read, conduct research, and find inspiration for their tales in
history, mythology, fairy tales as well as their own experiences
and the experiences of family members, friends and their
communities. Kids develop a broad concept of narrative – and
come to understand that an object, a map, an image, a film, a
person, a nation are all narratives in and of themselves.
The work at Sparklelab is important for several reasons. For one,
it provides insight as to the type of content knowledge, attitudes
and dispositions kids acquire as they immerse themselves in
digital media, technology and digital fabrication. Second, it
highlights how informal learning spaces contribute to youth
development through the types of interactions that take place
among kids of all ages and their mentors. Finally, the Lab
provides a glimpse of how maker spaces and game-based learning
can bring together kids of varying ages, ethnicities and socio-
economic backgrounds and act as a common language, a common
area of interest, from which collaborations and friendships are
built.
3.2 Knowledge, Attitudes and Dispositions
During the course of Sparklelab workshops, design jams,
hackathons and sleepovers, learning abounds.
Kids learn DOMAIN-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE. For instance,
kids learn about electricity and energy when creating circuits.
They learn about the Cartesian coordinate system while using
Scratch, and use algebraic thinking and logic as they code. Kids
learn about physics as they design racing games and create Rube
Goldberg machines. They learn about chemistry when they create
their own ice cream or glow-in-the-dark candy. When they create
terraria, kids learn about plant life. When they create animations,
films and games, kids learn the craft of research, character
development, plot, conflict and point of view.
But learning extends far beyond domain-specific knowledge. At
the lab, kids develop ATTITUDES and DISPOSITIONS that help
them become creative problem solvers, innovators and life-long
learners. As kids play games, they develop an ability to
collaborate (online or offline) and problem solve creatively. As
they work on projects of their own choosing, kids fail, learn to
persevere and value failure as a means of learning and ultimately,
succeeding. Throughout each workshop, kids learn to iterate.
They come to value systems-thinking and design-thinking as ways
of knowing and making. Kids also learn the value of intelligent
resourcing as they play, seek inspiration from a variety of media
and consult with mentors, peers and communities of practice in
physical and virtual worlds. As kids engage in the process of
iterative design, they learn the value of listening, receiving
feedback and providing constructive criticism to their peers.
Workshops empower participants to tinker, to tear things apart
and try and piece them back together again. They are encouraged
to ask questions and seek answers. And when kids are encouraged
to pursue their interests and are equipped with the skills to do so,
they fall in love with learning and get magically lost in the
process.
3.3 Youth Development
Sparklelab workshops are open to kids ages three to eighteen. One
of the strongest assets of the lab, which contributes greatly to
youth development, is that it is a venue for intergenerational
learning. While schools, ballet studios, Math camps and theater
workshops often segregate kids according to age (and many times,
gender), Sparklelab allows kids of all ages to interact, learn from
one another, hang out and have fun. Moreover, teaching assistants
and mentors, parents and grandparents play a large part in the
Sparklelab community. They work with the kids, participate in
workshops and design jams and are present at open houses. The
Lab has a strong feeling of community. It offers kids with a safe
and inclusive space, where they are encouraged and supported as
they take on roles, assume identities, explore, experiment and
collaborate in both the social context and the creative context.
Games, anime, You Tube videos, and a passion for making serve
as a common language, a common area of interest, from which
collaborations and friendships are built. This was especially
evident in a program that met on Saturdays called Spycraft: A
Covert Game of Minecraft, where kids from high-poverty
communities met with kids from middle and high-income
communities for hours of play and building, design-challenges
and mystery-solving. In the Philippines, meaningful interactions
among kids of varying socio-economic backgrounds are
especially rare. As kids of all ages, genders, socio-economic
backgrounds and ethnicities met, played, laughed and worked
together, they learned the value of respect, kindness, mutual
understanding and accepting and celebrating diversity.
4. WHAT WE’VE LEARNED
This section discusses best practices gleaned from two and a half
years of running Sparklelab.
4.1 Interests Matter
When kids attend workshops, engage in game jams and take on
design challenges, there are skills and content knowledge to be
learned, and ways of thinking and knowing to be developed. At
the Lab, this happens in the context of the kids’ own interests and
I believe that because of this, learning is welcome and even
cherished. As kids learn about light, sound, energy and circuits,
and sew, solder, model, code and build, the Lab becomes a space
of possibility, a playground for their ideas. Want to create an
Adventure Time inspired iPad case that detects if there is Wifi
around you? Sure! Craft a toy zombie with a screaming brain? No
problem! Would you like to code your very own Chicken vs
Turkey game? Why not? Or design a live-action cooking game
with digital inputs and bacon interfaces? Of course!
Kids are exhilarated by a sense of possibility and empowered
when their interests are validated. Interest-driven learning
provides motivation and a need to know. Ultimately, it helps kids
develop a love for learning and, with mentorship, equips them
with the means to learn and share their learning with others.
4.2 Learning CAN BE Fun
When Sparklelab launched its first workshop, kids visited the lab
three times a week for two hours each day. After the second
session, kids ended up staying for an extra hour, begging their
parents to stay longer (“Really, teacher Rosanna says it’s okay,
Mom!”). Kids just loved being at the Lab. Soon, they began
negotiating for full-day jams and later, sleepovers and 36-hour
hang-outs and hackathons.
I noticed kids never really walked in to Sparklelab. They ran in.
Several parents asked me if I intended to start my own school, as
their kids had pleaded with them to abandon formal schooling and
come to the Lab instead! (I declined). One mother asked her son,
“You learn at school like you learn at Sparklelab. So why don’t
you like going to school? You love being at Sparklelab. What’s
the difference?” My student looked horrified and said, “We don’t
learn anything here. It’s fun!” After talking to this student, I
realized that he did, in fact, learn things at the Lab. But for him,
learning is equated with school and school is not fun, therefore
learning is not fun. I am glad that being at the Lab has changed his
definition of learning!
Sparklelab has a 97% re-enrollment rate. Kids who started with us
for our first year have enrolled for at least four or five more
workshops (each totaling 40 hours), and numerous design jams.
Kids who joined us our second year have attended three to four
workshops since then. This affirms that kids fall in love with
learning when learning is fun and compelling. How do we make it
fun? I believe it’s all about design.
4.3 It’s All About Design
Sparklelab is about designed experience. This begins with the
design of the PHYSICAL SPACE. It’s cozy: the Lab’s edges are
lined with couches and beanbags. We have grass turf as flooring
instead of tile or concrete. The walls are filled with the kids’
paintings, scribbles and photographs of their work. And front and
center? There’s nothing, of course! A nothing filled with
possibility.
There are toys and games and consoles and books and computers
and DVDs. The idea is that kids gain inspiration from Apples to
Apples, The Odyssey, Katamari Damacy, The Origin of Species,
Shadow of the Colossus, La Traviata, Minecraft, Balanchine –
and navigate seamlessly between spaces where they can read,
play, surf the Web, listen to music, build, paint, solder, snack,
dance and code.
Workshops are designed for kids to create work based on their
interests and proceed at their own pace. Many workshops also
have an over-arching narrative – rooted in game-based pedagogy,
which allows for curious, wacky and mysterious things to unfold.
Always, there is fun and an element of surprise (and usually, the
absurd) factored into our workshops.
Some workshop tasks involve collaboration, others competition.
Sometimes kids work individually, sometimes in groups (but
always together). At times, workshop activities are designed with
a precise flow, a series of happenings or challenges that build on
one another. Other times, these scaffolds are removed and kids
take the lead in designing their own activities in a purposefully
“empty,” unconstructed space. Each workshop and design jam
poses the question: What should the kids feel, learn, get out of
this? And we figure out ways to achieve that.
4.4 Community Matters
Kids at Sparklelab enjoy each other’s company. They eat in one
big circle, as a group. They hang out with one another, sans
cliques. When they aren’t at the Lab, they’re chatting with one
another on Facebook, checking out each other’s art on Instagram,
meeting online to play games together. One father asked me, “Did
you ask them to always hang out together in one big group like
this? This isn’t normal!” Truth is, I hadn’t. But the kids – some
with a thirteen-year age gap – boys and girls from different
schools, and of different nationalities (Filipino, Pakistani,
Japanese, Chinese, Finnish and Canadian) – just gravitated
towards one another and worked really well together. We have a
few kids with special needs who come to the Lab regularly and
their parents marvel at how at ease they are with their peers, how
they socialize and laugh and do not feel out of place. This makes
me glad.
I can’t quite pinpoint what in the design of the space or curricula
or experience that is Sparklelab gives rise to these meaningful
interactions. It could be the dance parties. Could be the kids.
Could be the sleepovers. But it gives me the conviction that in
learning and youth development, community is an integral part of
the experience.
Our community is our greatest resource. Kids, interns, mentors
and families play an integral role in defining Sparklelab,
developing programs, determining a course for the future and
enriching the community of the Lab.
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My deepest gratitude to the Sparklelab community, and all those
who inspire the work we do, including the work of Katie Salen
and the Institute of Play; the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT;
and the FabLab at Stanford.