What is the advantage of making as learning over traditional “forward facing” pedagogies? Disadvantages?
Some quick thoughts on advantages of making as learning.
It's a different method to traditional 'info in, info out,' method of teaching therefore I would expect it to have an enthusiasm bounce with the learners.
The learners will get an investment in their making - they need to focus to create this real thing, it's not a 'teacher task'.
Creating is hard and requires thought and work. Many textbook lessons don't, therefore 'I don't know what to do,' is often heard when something different happens. The only way to improve this is by doing some creating/making activities.
There are more opportunities for high quality group interactions.
25 children beats 1 teacher for creativity EVERY time. Opening up the group to being creative and actually getting them working together will produce something amazing and beyond teacher's scope.
And disadvantages.
It's different, and schools, LA's, parents etc whilst saying they want innovative and risk taking, actually don't. (It just sounds good)
Assessment. Education loves a tick box. 'Soft skills' don't map well to a tick box, and they certainly don't map well to an end of year assessment or exam.
Schools are still product focused over process. The classroom with wonderful displays (created by teacher and school support staff mounting a piece of child's work and displaying it) is more highly thought of than a class with pupil curated displays where mounting may be skew (or non-existent!!) and words may be spelled incorrectly by LA and HMI/OFSTED alike.
I'm sure there are many other thoughts I've missed. I'll maybe add them in the comments.