In this one hour webinar, Hillbrook iLab coordinator joins a panel of researchers and practitioners to discuss how to apply constructivist learning through problem based science and making. What we have learned in 3 years.
The Awesome World of Making @ Hillbrook
Stories of Making and Constructionist Learning
Author: Christa Flores (page 4 of 4)
Feature in Sunset Magazine 1939.
In the September 1939 Issue of Sunset Magazine, Hillbrook’s Village of Friendly Relations was featured as a testament to the innovative and human-centered approach to education, then head of school Mary Orem was passionate about. According to detailed documents stating the purpose of the project, Ms. Orem designed a curriculum for children that would;
1) Allow children not normally celebrated in a traditional school setting to be leaders, 2) Empower students with real world problem solving and building skills, and 3) Encourage children to practice peaceful resolution to conflict in a mistake friendly environment. The Village was not just a cluster of play houses, it was a scale model society, with real world problems for children to learn from. In a sense, it was also Hillbrook’s first attempt at redesigning the classroom.
Real Tools + Real Materials + Real Problems = Real Learning
Sadly, the village project ended when funding for the buildings was supplanted with needs to keep the school running during war time. World War II was a time of great nationalism, do it yourself mentalities and a desire to reduce, reuse and repair. When the war ended, priorities shifted again. In the 1950’s and 60’s American culture moved away from a DIY mindset that celebrated the role of women in the workforce, to one of hard gender roles and compulsive consumerism. Perhaps more insidious a shift, was the competition centered approach to education that defined the Space Race. As a result, in the past five decades, less focus has been on real world problems and integrating subjects for a more holistic approach to learning. More emphasis has been placed on teaching the subjects of math, writing, science and reading in artificial silos, with an increased emphasis on ranking and high stakes test taking. School became less about empowerment through learning, and more about competition for coveted college and high school admissions placement.
Fast forward to March, Friday the 13th 2015, and you may have read the Friday letter by Mark Silver declaring how the Village of Friendly Relations was the original “Makers Movement,” a movement that was paralleled by the Craftsman and Progressive Education movements of the early parts of the last century. A re-examination of how we teach and learn is at the forefront of educational discussions, as Mr. Silver noted in that letter. In the 1930’s, Hillbrook, then The Children’s Country School, was at the forefront of innovative curriculum that has been proven to be better for learning and for kids. Today, we see similar work continuing in much of what we do intentionally at Hillbrook.
Gabriella U., explains how she solved the hard roof problem for the Tiny Green House Project, a project first launched in 2012 as part of the science department redesign to include science in the context of STEAM, architecture, engineering and mathematical arts. Gabby formally joined the team as a member of the Y.E.S. elective of 2014.
The topic of the Village houses has come up a lot in the past three years, thanks to the work of resident historian Mr. Paul DiMarco and his book and documentary entitled, “As the Twig is Bent: The Story of the Children’s Country School”. Inspired by the video documentary, which was shown to students in the Spring of 2013, five 6th graders approached their then science and engineering teacher to ask if they too could build a house in the Village. “Why not?” I wondered, and for the past two years we have been co-learning as a school, and as a team, what it takes to build a Village house.
Katherine B. (2015) mentoring Jaden S. (2018) on making floor plans in 2013 after completing her class project Tiny Green Houses. Katherine joined the HHH team in the spring of 2014 as team documentarist.
Class of 2015 members, Emily S., Emma S., Lilah P., Sam B., and Lora K., having spent time consulting with the school’s long time contractor Kim Midstokke, felt armed with a list of action items, such as drawings and a budget, to present to current head of school Mark Silver. Their proposal was accepted, and now the hard work of learning how to build a house began. We had taken on a very hard problem indeed. We needed to enlist a team of experts to get this project off the ground.
During their 7th grade year, the team still consisted of only the original five students. We met every Monday at lunch during the spring semester with our mentor architect, Stephan Sun, now attending Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. At the end of their 7th grade year, the team had real architectural drawings based on their ideas and designs for the new building, the title of which was now the Hillbrook History House.
Floor plan drawings made with mentor architect Stephan Sun.
Armed with the knowledge of how an architect takes ideas and makes them into drawings our next step and the hardest work of all was still to come. How do you take drawings and actually build a house? Enter building mentor Tom Jameson of the Hillbrook Maintenance crew and parent mentor Sarah Kately, project management guru and indispensable project champion to the HHH team.
Prototype making lesson in the iLab with mentor architect Stephan Sun. Laser cut cardboard for rapid prototyping to define the form of the new village house.
In the fall of 2014, the HHH team grew again. Under the title of Y.E.S. (young engineering scientists), a first time elective for 8th graders was offered to solve this problem of how to build a house. This first quarter elective was a prototype capstone project, an initiative of Hillbrook’s growing Maker Education program, to see what students could accomplish with four hours a rotation dedicated to a passion based project, designed by kids for kids.
Nevin R. joins the HHH team in the Y.E.S. elective as team mathematician. Nevin kept record of how math is an integral part of building.
This elective was inadvertently designed to mimic the holistic, student-centered approach of the original Village Project designed by Mary Orem. The HHH team dutifully documented their learning in areas of math (geometry, budgeting, blueprint making, and scale), literacy (blog to tell the story), technology (using digital fabrication for prototyping scale models), art (architecture lessons), historical sciences (research, analysis, primary document reading), science (material science, physics), and citizenship (sustainability, resource management, public speaking, etc.). The Y.E.S. elective also opened up this rare and amazing opportunity to more members of the soon to be graduating class of 2015. The team now consisted of 8th graders Lora K., Sam B., Liliah P., Emma S., Isabel P., Meghan M., Katherine B., Chaaya P., Gabby U., Nevin R., Seamus S., and Caryus P.
Alan mentors the team around what would make the best foundation for the house and its building site.
Once the fall elective ended, the team continued to shift and grow. Having constructed four walls and a floor, their fall term goal, the team faced their next hard problem; building a roof with an asymmetrical pitch design.
Aspiring architect for the HHH team, Lora K. shows off her handy work to classmate Nicole G.. They stand within the walls of the first quarter elective construction.
The “roof problem” was thrown around for a few weeks until Tom Jameson and Ken Hay volunteered to help solve this problem by volunteering their Monday afternoons to allow the HHH team to build. Adult mentors now consisted of builders Ken Hay, Alan Bahnsen and Tom Jameson, project managers Sarah Kateley and Mrs. Pac, as well as documentarists and story tellers Paul DiMarco, Debbie Dembecki, and Ms. Flores, to name just a few.
Reminiscent of the original builders enjoying the structural integrity of their hard work, core team members Lilah P., Sam B., Emma S. and Isabel P. atop the “roof problem.”
As it turns out, it takes a village to build a village. During the Spring quarter electives, the HHH team members will continue to work on the construction of the house for 4 hours a rotation with mentor Ken Hay and Tom Jameson. As of now, no one knows what “finished” will look like, but everyone agrees that rediscovering our history through this History House has been a rich learning experience for all. Even the kindergarten study group focusing on woodworking got a chance to help add roof shingles to the new house as part of their curriculum.
Megan Collins, Kindergarden teacher and co-learner Victor T., are members of the Wood Working study group. Study groups let students chose topics they are passionate about, while learning in a social and constructivist environment.
Perhaps the most important message learned from this project, is that working together is how our community can solve hard problems. Stay tuned, as the construction of a tiny house revives the kind of educational experiences we strive for at Hillbrook.
It is second semester in Problem based Science and the class of 2018 is well into their “Spring hard problem.” The spring hard problem marks the end of our patterns unit and the beginning of our study of structures and systems. During our study of structures, students get a chance to use their understanding of materials, measurement and patterns to make blueprints for designs and to conduct scientific testing of those designs. If those structures involve moving parts or varying materials or embedded electronics, they are also learning about the relatedness of things that make up a system.
Applied math comes readily in class with measurement, re-measurement, simple geometry problems and budgeting.
What makes a problem a hard problem?
Hard problems require time (months), collaboration, creativity, grit and learning new skills to pass a challenge. The true sign of a good hard problem is when the adults do not have all the answers for students, rather the students get to take charge using their own imagination and ambition to reach a goal set by their team.
This year’s title? Design Detectives for the Common Good! This year’s spring hard problem was an adaptation of a 6th grade level design thinking challenge, with a green twist. To learn about structures and systems, as well as collaboration between and within teams, the class of 2018’s spring hard problem consisted of the following rules:
Rule No. 1
Collaborate with an adult on the Hillbrook campus to find a need
Rule No. 2
Brainstorm with your team to design a solution to the need you have found
Rule No. 3
Your solution must be made with upcycled materials (This year we had a lot of pallets from the new furniture deliveries and a box of e-waste delivered to the iLab by a parent).
Rule No. 4
Your solution must be beautiful or create connections at Hillbrook
This year’s gracious collaborators are Megan Collins, Kindergarten teacher, Ronnette Chandler, Hillbrook receptionist, Christina Pak, middle school head, Susanna Long 3rd grade homeroom teacher, Emily Hendricks, technology genius, Lara Blom, lower school science teacher, Ilsa Dohman, upper school science teacher, Dhimant Patel, aftercare staff and maintenance crew, Robert Sears, upper school math teacher, Jenn Bogart, middle school english teacher and Ms. Flores 5th grade science instructor.
Using Empathy to find the needs of others
To discover a need on the Hillbrook campus, the class of 2018 interviewed, observed and surveyed their collaborators. They took notes, captured images of areas on campus of interest and presented their ideas to the entire class for feedback. Most teams have settled on just one need from their research, have built prototypes of their solutions and are now ready to begin making something real. 
Measuring Growth in Problem based Science
All problems are graded on a Pass/Fail system with an opportunity for passing with honors or failing with honors. There are no paper tests in problem based science. We use the process of scientific testing, documentation of work (using Google Docs collaboratively to record progress), building and evaluating prototypes, and peer and self-reflection to focus on the formative assessment of work. Teams get points for sharing their work during peer critique sessions when they get vital feedback about how to improve their designs and share arguments for their use of materials or a design. Summative assessment comes in May when the spring hard problems are shared with thousands of curious minds at the Bay Area Maker Faire and all students make an argument for their final grade, using evidence and reasoning. Stay tuned as the class of 2018 Design Detectives for the Common Good make real artifacts that help make Hillbrook more beautiful and more connected.
Connecting Reggio Emilia to Making in the Classroom
During the February break, Hillbrook sent a team of four teachers to a one day workshop called Invent to Learn with a focus on Reggio Emilia practices and ‘making in the classroom’. Part of our day was spent networking with teachers from all over the country, while examining the latest technologies for constructivist learning in the classroom. In a nutshell, constructivist learning theory supports the rise in the more popularly termed “making” in the classroom. Making is considered to be any activity that allows kids to use digital, as well as analog technologies to construct knowledge. Often this occurs through the literal construction of an artifact, demonstrating understanding of how things are made and work, or a process of knowing termed “parts, purpose and complexities” by Harvard’s Agency by Design, a research project looking at constructivist learning and making in the classroom.
First grade teacher Laura Nielsen works with Hummingbird, an interface for physical programming, one of the many great tools participants at the Invent to Learn workshop were exposed to.
Hillbrook school has been leading the charge in making in the classroom for as long as we have existed as a school, stemming from the first wood workers and financial planners, who built the village of friendly relations to today’s rich array of making in several spaces that explore the fine arts, music, ceramic, wood, textiles and electronics. Hillbrook is not alone in this charge, in the last 10 years making in schools has seen a dramatic resurgence, and maker spaces are popping up in schools exponentially all over the world in response. Research stemming from Harvard’s Agency by Design Project, Stanford’s Transformative Learning Technologies Lab (TLTL) and FabLearn Fellowship and the non-profit Maker Education Initiative support the growing claim that making in the classroom is one of the most child appropriate, rigorous and authentic manners in which academic content can be delivered and assessed. More support for making in the classroom comes from deep ties to historically respected educational philosophies that emerged as a response to industrialized education at the turn of the last century, including work from the Netherlands and Italy, thus the tie between making and Reggio Emilia.
Reggio Emilia is a town in Italy that is renowned for a movement in education that focuses on the learner with unfailing respect for the child’s personal educational journey. Given this, the second part of the workshop was a trip to a traveling exhibit called the Wonders of Learning, a look at the Reggio Emilia philosophy in education. Colleague and student of early childhood education Jamie Bartels describes his visit to the exhibit as follows: “The Reggio Emilia ‘Wonder of Learning’ traveling exhibition does not have a guide; it invites the visitor to explore, observe and listen, ‘aesthetic antennae vibrating,’ as he or she attempts to peer perspicaciously past the walls and atelier into the imagined classroom practices that make the early education methodology of the Reggio Emilia schools so widely popular.” Here is a quick synopsis on Reggio Emilia from the Wonders of Learning site:
“The Reggio Emilia approach, while having its own history and character, has been deeply informed by the thinking of theorists such as John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, David Hawkins, Jerome Bruner and Howard Gardner. It is grounded in the image of the child as having extraordinary potential for learning and change, and in the school as a site of interactions and relationships where each individual is respected and valued as part of a community. Ideas are shared between children and teachers and explored through the many languages of learning. Children are part of the organization of the daily life of the classroom where the curriculum emerges from the children’s investigations and is co-constructed together with teachers and parents. All three are protagonists in the learning process.” – Wonder of Learning Exhibit
As a school, Hillbrook has been highly influenced by several key concepts from Reggio Emilia. The first of which is how we have come to view learning spaces as the 3rd teacher (the first being a pedagogista and the second an atelierista, to be discussed shortly). Environment as the 3rd teacher is a concept first explored at Hillbrook through our 2012 iLab study. We now understand that environment has an influence on what questions students ask, how they approach learning, as well as factors of productivity and well-being.
The second key concept we explore and value at Hillbrook is redefining the role of teacher in the classroom. No longer the sage on the stage who lectures at children, Hillbrook teachers model a more progressive, as well as differentiated approach to learning in the classroom. In Reggio there is a term called the 100 languages of children, an homage to Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory. Knowing that rote memorization or test taking are not the only, nor the richest way to measure or demonstrate learning, we can respect students for their unique questions, passions and talents. This falls in line with the Reggio structure of having the pedagogista and the atelierista, to help support a more learner-centered approach to education.
A third concept that we are exploring at Hillbrook, involves student choice, not only in their work spaces but choice about their curriculum. Exploring ways in which teacher and students negotiate what they learn and how they are assessed is an ongoing goal that teaches children autonomy, agency and positive identity formation. In Reggio Emilia as well, learning is an artful dance between the learner and the environment, which includes the people in that environment (such as the pedagogista, the atelierista, the family or the community at large). The pedagogista can be thought of as a person who knows about learning and the brain, age appropriate content to expose children to, effective ways to document learning and how to make meaningful connections with parents and the community at wide. The Atelierista is often an artist, or expert in material science, who manages an atelier (learning space for discovery of natural materials or concepts in nature, such as light or sound). The essence of the atelierista is to honor the imagination and natural desire to discover in childhood by curating a learning space that inspires questions and learning in an organic, child-centered fashion. The best example of this model is happening now in the Hillbrook maker spaces, where we have an experienced educator and or experienced maker in residence.
Further Discoveries while in NYC
Collections and Categories
While in NYC we visited a few institutions for inspiration, The Hewitt Cooper Design Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MomaMath the Museum of Mathematics, The Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Public Library.
Brooklyn Library
Ms. Megan Collins, Kindergarten Teacher keeps the younger attendees at MoMath waiting their turn on this geometrically informed race track
Taking time to visit places that focus on collection and categories tied in well with the theme of Reggio Emilia, as another key concept in Reggio is to have children work on projects long enough that the product is timeless and worth keeping around, such as the treasures we see at libraries and museums. Moreover, if you are a resident of NYC, these spaces become your classroom as well.
Child’s tool box on display at the Hewitt Cooper Smithsonian Museum of Design, from the Tools exhibit, a history of technology for making and discovering, note that nothing is made of plastic.
Art + Science = Design
Further inspiration came from just observing street art and the booming entrepreneurial efforts in revitalized NYC neighborhoods. A growing interest in building strong STEM programs in schools has programs turning to the arts to inform and foster the creativity that is an essential part of doing science and engineering. This movement can be seen in the music and science project in 3rd grade at Hillbrook, as well as a growing DIY generation of motorcycle enthusiasts building and fixing vintage bikes for showing off in cafe’s in Brooklyn (see photo).
Restored vintage Honda motorcycle parked in a cafe in Brooklyn.
The maker movement has always been strong in the design arts and architecture, now it is seeing a resurgence in mechanical/electrical engineering, food science, and physical programming. After all, what is Design, other than the polyandrous marriage of material science, scientific testing and aesthetics.
Pop art marks the entrance to this school in NYC. Simple graphics explain what goes on inside and makes the school seem like a fun place to be.
Sustainability and STEAM
While in NYC, we also visited schools with the intention of collaborating on ideas around learning spaces and curriculum. These schools included the Calhoun School, a K-12 independent school known for progressive approaches to learning spaces and a strong sustainability and roof garden program, as well as Marymount, an all girls 6-12 school with a maker space and data visualization lab. At Marymount we saw a clothing rack of designer dresses, all made from you got it, garbage. Stunningly beautiful and well constructed, this example of up-cycling, art and science was a highlight of our visit.
Dress made from straws as part of a fashion week lesson for upper school girls at the Marymount School in Manhattan.
Lamp made from take out lids as part of Calhoun’s sustainable art and science program. This project was called Dumpster Dive Design.
All in all, this trip was as a journey of discovery, the path of which arched nicely home to Hillbrook as affirmation of what we stand for as a school. Energized, inspired and grateful for the California sunshine, we all feel more connected to global, like-minded learning communities our students now have access to.
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