The Makers Movement has been gaining a lot of attention from educators in recent years, but for University School, teaching boys to solve problems through tinkering, innovating, and making is a 125-year-old tradition. We were founded on the idea that for boys to become successful leaders, fathers, husbands, and makers, they need creativity and a little elbow grease.
In the 1930s, metal shop students built the wrought iron fence and gates encircling the Shaker campus. In 1987, students volunteered with other school community members to construct the Sally Findlay playground in a single weekend. And in 2015, boys are making now more than ever.
It is because of this enduring philosophy of well-roundedness that University School had the honor of hosting the 2015 International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC) Boys as Makers Conference in April. Teachers and administrators from all-boys schools from across the globe came to University School’s campuses to roll up their sleeves and learn how US teachers incorporate the makers philosophy into their curriculums—from welding three-piece mobiles to creating new religions to designing sustainable model homes.
Third grade teacher Steve Siegel said getting boys excited about what they are going to create is at the heart of the Makers Movement.
“It’s about letting them use their own minds instead of having somebody else telling them what to do step by step, and encouraging them to have a growth mindset, so that when they come to a problem they don’t crumble and they don’t stop,” Steve said. “They are going to continue to work on that challenge and overcome it.”
Learning From The Best
In addition to hearing from three keynote speakers and visiting The Cleveland Clinic’s Innovation Center and a creative production factory, several University School teachers were selected to lead workshops or presentations to teach the conference participants how they encourage innovation and creative problem-solving in their students through making.
US’s artistic excellence was demonstrated by Rex Brodie and Enrique de la Mata in their presentation with two Computer Assisted Design (CAD) students in which they took participants through the process of turning two concepts into final products—a luminaire and a laser-cut box.
In their workshop “Making Good Use of Our Maker Space,” Mike Starinsky and Reinhold Friebertshauser drew upon their over sixty years of combined experience to teach participants about how US’s state-of-the-art design and art spaces were created to facilitate making using both old school and modern techniques.
Mike and two colleagues worked with the Hunting Valley campus’ architects three years ago to ensure the CAD Lab and Metals shop was open and modifiable. Workshop participants were blown away by the space, and some even invited Mike to visit their schools to provide counsel on how to better outfit their own design spaces.
“A big part of this Makers Movement is that any space can adapt into whatever the big problem of the day requires,” Mike said. “It’s really about making spaces that are conducive to the type of work that bubbles up as a result of the curriculum.”
In Mike and Reinhold’s workshop, thirteen participants with little to no welding experience learned how US students blended physics and art to create mobiles from steel rods, then gave it a try after getting a crash course in welding from two students.
Incredible discoveries take place in boys’ minds when they start with an idea, make drawings and plans for how something should look, and then build and innovate.
“We put things into perspective and provide context for what boys are studying in other parts of the curriculum,” Mike said. “It’s a very beautiful and truthful series of events that takes place when boys go from a concept that is nothing to something that actually sits on a table someplace that can be utilized or just be decorative, and I think we lose track of that if we let the digital world take over.”
History teacher Sam Thomas discussed how he incorporated the Makers philosophy into his curriculum in his presentation called “Design Thinking and the History Classroom.”
To get his students thinking about the relationship between religion and society in the ancient world, Sam had his students research an ancient civilization and design a religion that fit. Giving students a problem to solve instead of information to memorize is what the Makers Movement is all about.
“It allows students to take a much more active role in their own education,” Sam said. “They’re not receptacles of wisdom dispensed from on high; they are active learners in a number of different ways.”
Middle school design technology teacher Rob Lovell and 7th grade science teacher Kathy Osborne connected the past to the present in their presentation called “Design Technology: 3D Sustainable Model Home Design and Development.” They described their contemporary approach to the traditional furniture building methods US instructors have been teaching for over a century.
Using SketchUp 3D software, Rob and Kathy’s students designed sustainable homes, then used reclaimed wood to build miniature versions of them. They made the homes operational based on what they learned about circuitry, voltage, solar technology, and more.
Rob said the Makers Movement is about letting students expand on their projects according to their interests and learn for themselves what works and what doesn’t—a skill that will come in handy for a lifetime.
Lower school director Gail Stein uses a similar approach on the Shaker Heights campus.
“It’s not about sitting surrounded by four walls at a desk working by yourself and learning one subject at a time. Boys can connect and learn from each other by building something together and making mistakes.”
Third grade teacher Steve Siegel and fourth grade teacher Brady Hurley discussed the science behind developing a hands-on curriculum around themes and getting boys emotionally invested in their learning in their presentation called “Boys Constructing Knowledge Through a Theme-Based Curriculum.”
Theme-based, integrated curriculum allows each student to make connections between disciplines like reading, writing, math, and science in ways that educate the whole boy—head, heart, and hands.
Steve and Brady said they found sharing their work with other teachers at the conference exciting and empowering.
“The way in which we teach is pretty unique—it gives people new ideas,” Brady said. “In many ways it is not about teaching young boys to be makers; instead, it is about providing them with the opportunity and structure to be makers.”
More Than Just A Movement
For 125 years, University School boys have had access to expert teachers and state-of-the-art facilities. But more than that, they have been given the freedom to learn by making mistakes, solving old problems in new ways, and developing the mindset of a maker that will help them in every facet of life.
“Nothing takes the place of actually working with your hands, building and creating,” said Gail Stein. “You see it from kindergarten all the way through grade 12—boys working with their hands. It’s one of the things this school was founded on. It’s what we do best.”
Nicole Barhorst 