Let’s Talk Tinkering! (Pt. 1)
What is tinkering? Why do it? Who can do it? I want to try to answer these questions by thinking through two things specifically: first, focusing on understanding the idea of tinkering and second, why is it an important concept to introduce to the early childhood environment? In this post, I want to talk through exactly what tinkering is all about.
Full disclaimer: These questions about tinkering have been spurred on by two things happening at the Museum. First, we have embraced this fantastic world of tinkering through a partnership with the engineers over at Anixter. (More on that programming later.) Second, my colleagues and I are also participating in an online course about tinkering put on by the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium located in San Francisco.
I have always been a fan of making things and creatively problem solving through materials (like building a house only using cardboard tubes and tape, seen here). David Macaulay’s The Way Things Work was a standout book from my childhood; as a freshman in college, when I was able to see him talk about his books and illustrations, it was another standout moment. Though I never thought of myself as a tinkerer, as I delve into the world of tinkering, it feels very natural to me as an artist, and art educator.
In Invent to Learn, Sylvia Libow & Gary Stager make this interesting proclamation: messing around or playing with materials is actually an important way of learning. Direct work with materials familiar and unfamiliar force the participant (no matter the age!) to “build a sense of science as inquiry, exploration and investigation rather that as answers.”
As an art educator, it feels very validating to think that tinkering is equally an art and an engineering practice. I think to push it further, the boundary that singles out art from technology, engineering or science really is fluid in this tinkering practice. Making is making, and essential for the thinking and learning that happens in all these areas! When I was in art school, I had a teacher who would repeatedly say “Tim, you’re thinking too much, just do” or “Don’t think, just work!” There is just such clarity that happens through working through a problem with your hands.
Rather than re-inventing the wheel, I want to also focus on how Libow & Stager define tinkering, then in true tinkering fashion, pull it apart to better understand what they mean to help create a fuller picture of this unique making-centered world. Let’s start with their definition: “Tinkering is a uniquely human activity, combining social and creative forces that encompass play and learning.”
Key idea 1: Tinkering is active
Tinkering is action and problem driven: how can I do x? What makes y happen? Can I use z material to make something new? Or can I make z in a better way?
Key idea 2: Tinkering is purposeful play
You have to get messy. You have to play around with materials. You have to make mistakes. Once tools are modeled, then proper use should be understood through guided, but open-ended practice. Most importantly, mistakes happen.
Key idea 3: Tinkering doesn’t happen in a vacuum
Mistakes are frustrating. Support is not only helpful, but necessary in helping the tinkerer push through not knowing. A community of help also makes it easier to ask for help, and build up confidence in the maker to take risks. (The group becomes a safety net.) This doesn’t happen in a vacuum: tinkering is based on real world tools and objects. Thinking through making and creative problem solving aren’t just catchphrases, but are really important life skills.
In short, tinkering supports the growth of a resourceful thinker.
Why is this important for working with young children?
Tinkering is a way to engage the whole child (or maker, any age really) in the learning process.
In taking on a tinkering mindset as an educator, you are promoting a child-centered environment built on encouraging permission and structured exploration, while embracing - or even encouraging - mistakes. Mistakes don’t act as the brakes on thinking, but are important ways of acting out what doesn’t work and then taking a detour to a new and eventually successful outcome. In this process, the child has to slow down.
Take it from me, as an art educator I see it often and even hope for it to happen when a child enters the Museum’s art studio. That slowing down is a great moment. This moment is a foundational premise to tinkering as a practice. To be clichéd, the idea of gears clicking together in each child’s head as they work is the best analogy.
Come find out how we tinker at the Museum!
We have partnered with engineers at Anixter to develop some great activities to celebrate the exploration of tinkering. Kohl Children’s Museum’s Tinkering Tuesdays program encourages children to do what they do best - let their curiosity take over! Explore the world of engineering by building machines and creating processes, and then explore what happens when you make changes or do things differently.
Programming takes place from 2:30 – 4 p.m. on the Museum’s STEAM Cart at announced locations in the Museum exhibits.
Here is what we will be focusing on our upcoming Tinkering Tuesdays:
Our next Tinkering Tuesday programs are October 6 & 20 from 2:30 - 4 p.m. on the Museum’s STEAM cart at announced locations in the Museum exhibits. Temperature Adventure will let children explore how various temperatures can been detected with the use of a thermal camera.
Watch for a really exciting Tinkering Tuesday mega-program to be announced soon for November!
See you around!
--Tim Abel, Museum Education Specialist