Payton's Philosophy on Making
Making happens daily in peoples’ lives, yet the label of ‘maker’ has seemed exclusive and elitist to me in the past. I grew up sewing, tinkering, crocheting, knitting, cooking, engineering, and crafting, but when I became a UTeach Maker I felt like all of my past projects were minimized in comparison to the projects I would create under this new label. While making recently, I have realized that what and how I make now is not much different to what it was prior to joining UTeach Maker, that what has changed are only the resources and skills I have gained through being a part of this community.
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In coming to this realization, I have concluded that anyone can be a maker, and that being a maker is not defined by what resources and skills are accessible to an individual. Rather, making is a mindset. Making is the physical development of an idea in a way that is personally meaningful. Making can be expressive and without obvious applications, or it can be in response to many problems humans face in life. While making can be done by anyone, it is the work of makers that varies due to the variation in resources, skill levels, and creative expression.
Equity, Access, and Diversity
The making process can empower everyone by the exposure to new tools, techniques, and materials, and can promote student collaboration and advancement through the sharing of diverse ideas. It is the access to these resources that leads to the empowerment and development of makers, however not every maker has equal access to these resources. This is especially seen in the maker education movement, as discussed by Leah Buechley at a UTeach Institute conference in 2015. In her presentation, Buechley displayed her observations of the covers of Maker magazine. She found that, in reality, the maker movement has primarily been inclusive of and represented by educated white males.
Although making is broad enough that students do not need expensive equipment to be included in this movement, many ideas are being lost as the movement does not actively facilitate diversity in maker backgrounds and demographics. This may be corrected, in part, by progressing toward equal access to resources for underrepresented groups and increasing the representation of diverse ideas. In working to achieve this goal, we must remember that we as humans are limited in our advancement as long as the maker movement is dominated by one demographic.
“2015 Closing Plenary by Leah Buechley.” Vimeo, 2 Apr. 2018, vimeo.com/136961776
Although it seems like certain criteria must be met in order to be a maker, that is simply not the case. Generally speaking, those who have more resources and/or leisure time are those who represent making to the public, but that should not prevent future makers from joining in as well. The idea of making is not restricted to any people group, since every person has the capacity to bring ideas to life regardless of the resources available to that individual.
“Making” does not require expensive resources, but is defined by characteristics not limited to any certain people group. These characteristics are a growth mindset, personally meaningful creation, iterative fabrication, collaboration with others and public sharing of work, and use of engineering practices. Though these aspects may be more developed in some, this does not mean that making is elitist in any way.
To others who might initially experience making as “elitist” as well:
Reflecting on Maker Education
This was my first time to ever use a soldering iron, and I loved it!