NSF Awards: 1811457
Design Squad Maker is a research and development project that explores how to support children’s sustained engagement and participation in engineering design projects over time and across out-of-school settings. A collaboration between GBH (a leading producer of educational STEM media) and the New York Hall of Science (a leader in museum and makerspace STEM programming), the project introduces children, ages 8-11, and their families to the engineering design process through hands-on experiences in museums, makerspaces, and at home.
Design Squad Maker iteratively developed and tested a suite of resources through a design-based research process that involved staff at multiple makerspace sites across the US. Called the Design Squad Maker Toolkit, these multimedia resources feature hands-on family workshops (delivered in-person or virtually) that use familiar themes, such as home, school, animals, and clothing, to introduce children to the steps of the design process by inviting them to identify problems they want to solve and create a prototype of their design idea. An app offers additional support both during the workshops and at home, and take-home resources support families in starting design projects at home after completing a workshop.
The Design Squad Toolkit builds on research within the maker movement that highlights the importance of engaging learners in using engineering to address problems that are personally meaningful. This approach also emphasizes the critical role that caregivers play in supporting and guiding children’s learning across out-of-school settings and over time.
Mary Haggerty
Director of Media Engagement
Thank you for visiting our Design Squad Maker video. This project explores how to support upper elementary school children’s sustained engagement and participation in engineering design projects across out-of-school settings (digital, museums and makerspaces, home). Following a summative evaluation at eight sites across the country later this spring, the Design Squad Maker toolkit will be available on PBS LearningMedia, NYSCI.org, and informalscience.org by early summer. The Design Squad Maker app is now available for free download from the Apple App and Google Play stores.
After watching our video, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on how you might envision using and/or adapting Design Squad Maker for your site. In addition, we hope you will share successful strategies for sustaining children’s interest and engaging parents and caregivers in the engineering design process. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Thank you!
The Design Squad Maker Team
David Haury
Emeritus Professor
Hi Mary,
The Design Squad Maker app seems well-designed and well-targeted to upper elementary students. I am wondering if you have also developed guidelines for potential facilitators in makerspaces or other facilitators. Have you examined use by individual families or groups of families? I would think there would be a lot of interest among families looking for home-based learning tools
Sophia Madonia
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
Hi David,
Here is the link for the Design Squad Maker Toolkit. Please note that it will not be live until late May/early June. https://bit.ly/designsquadmaker
Mary Haggerty
Director of Media Engagement
Hi David: Thanks for your comment and glad you thought that the Design Squad Maker app was well-designed and well-targeted to our age group. The app is an integral part of the program in museums and maker spaces as well as in homes. Study findings showed that children found the app helpful with keeping them on track as it reminded them what the steps of the design process. In addition, being able to write down notes, take photos, and look back at personal progress was also noted as very helpful. The app is now available for free download in the Apple App Store and in the Google Play Store. In June, we will publish the Design Squad Maker Toolkit, which features a comprehensive facilitators' guide that offers suggestions for integrating the app into engineering design workshops for children and families, and for using the app to continue designing at home. We will share the URL for the Design Squad Maker Toolkit over the next week, though it will not be available for free download until next month.
Sophia Madonia
David Haury
Emeritus Professor
Seems like a great plan, Mary. I did find the app on the Apple site and found it very intuitive.
Lizzy Cowan
I love this idea and I have downloaded the app to explore it a bit. I really appreciate the emphasis on sketching when brainstorming!
Sophia Madonia
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
Hi again, Lizzy,
Here is the link for the Design Squad Maker Toolkit. Please note that it will not be live until late May/early June. https://bit.ly/designsquadmaker
Lizzy Cowan
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
Hi Lizzy. How did you like the app. I don't know if you saw our response to David above. Just in case, I will repeat it: the app is an integral part of the program in museums and maker spaces as well as in homes. Study findings showed that children found the app helpful with keeping them on track as it reminded them what the steps of the design process. In addition, being able to write down notes, take photos, and look back at personal progress was also noted as very helpful. In June, we will publish the Design Squad Maker Toolkit, which features a comprehensive educator's guide that offers suggestions for integrating the app into engineering design workshops for children and families, and for using the app to continue designing at home. We will share the URL for the Design Squad Maker Toolkit over the next week, though it will not be available for free download until next month.
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
I meant + I'm glad that you like the app.
Jessica Parker
Senior Director
Thanks so much for sharing the Design Squad Maker video, app, and in the near future, toolkit! This is very exciting work. I am curious about your next steps with this project beyond releasing the Toolkit? What would you love to see happen in the future with the app and toolkit, in an ideal world? Excited to learn more!
Jessica Parker
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for your interest in the Design Squad Maker Toolkit. Yes, developing this toolkit has been very gratifying work for us. We are excited to release it in late March/early June. I provided the soon-to-live link below.
In answer to your questions: In June, we will begin promoting the availability of the toolkit to museums, maker spaces, other youth and family-serving organizations, and schools throughout the country. Our ideal scenario would be for the toolkit to be seen as a valuable addition to these organizations’ programs and they would make it a regular component that they offer to their families.
As Mary mentioned above, in addition to the toolkit living on PBS LearningMedia and informalscience.org, it will also be available on the website of the New York Hall of Science. NYSCI is excited to use the resources and lessons learned from this project in its maker space programs for children and families, and to think about how to adapt these approaches for other age groups that it serves.
Nancy Songer
Dean
Thanks for sharing your video and materials. I am wondering about what NGSS content you are emphasizing? I ask as I love the Design Squad Maker materials that foster the engineered design of materials, but it is not clear which NGSS standards or performance expectations might be the target learning goals or assessed. Thanks for more information.
Sophia Madonia
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for visiting Design Squad Maker. We are in the process of compiling a complete list of NGSS DCI and practices, ISTE, and others standard that apply. So the list is not available yet. The toolkit will live on PBS LearningMedia, a free service that offers educators access to research-based, classroom-ready digital learning experiences to engage students. Once it launches in about month the standards list will be available.
Sophia Madonia
Jennifer Kidd
I like empowering kids (and families) to solve their own problems through engineering. Are you venturing into K-12 spaces/PD at all, or sticking with informal contexts?
Sophia Madonia
Sophia Madonia
Makerspace Programs Assistant
Hey Jennifer! So far we've only tested Design Squad Maker in informal contexts with a focus on ages 8-11. I love the idea of a DSM PD! I think that could benefit a lot of early childhood educators.
Sophia Madonia
Sonja Latimore
Editorial Conten Director
Hi Jennifer,
Here's some more info about Design Squad Maker's reach to teachers.
The toolkit will live on PBS LearningMedia, a free service that offers educators access to research-based, classroom-ready digital learning experiences to engage students.
Teachers often use previous Design Squad resources, so we think PBS LM is an ideal space for DS Maker to live. In addition to informal spaces that Sophia mentioned, we will also promote the resources directly to educators via LM's marketing plan and Design Squad Maker's dissemination plan.
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Sandy Mau
Very cool. I would have loved something like this when my kids were small. Excellent project and congratulations on your success.