Thinkery
I was raised with failure's bad. It's not good if you fail at something. It's not positive, but then also knowing in my heart that that's not true and that we should view it as a learning opportunity. So I don't think that it necessarily changed my perspective, but it just kind of strengthened the way that I wanted to view it because it gave me more real life examples of working with kids and with other informal educators who had more experience and had a longer standing perspective of viewing failure as a learning opportunity rather than as a bad thing. (Year 2 Informal Educator)
OUR DEFINITION OF FAILURE: Failure means we (a) elevate our approach to process not product and focus on being learner centered, (b) support social-emotional learning in the maker space environment, and (c) focus on being observant and intentional when building, planning, and facilitating professional development or informal learning experiences internal and external.
Data Collection Programs
Thinkery conducted their PD Cycle with camp programs for youth in 1st to 5th grade. The programs were to support youth in testing their creative problem-solving skills and inventing solutions to real world problems.
It was a lot of fun. … It definitely gave me a different outlook of how I can help kids with their failure. The way my mind kind of works is if a kid comes up to me with a problem or a failure, I like to immediately go to a recommendation or just my own kind of problem solving mind. I like to see if my solution would work. The ‘Failure In Making’ and this whole summer has taught me, you really can't do that. That's just you doing the project. You gotta let them come up with the solutions. So it was a lot of working on being like, well, how do you think we'll solve it? And if they have nothing, you can be like: Would this work, Why do you think this would work? Why do you think it wouldn't work? Those sorts of guiding questions that help bring them to the solution rather than just giving them either your version of a solution or, you know, just flat out a solution. (Year 2 Informal Educator)
ABOUT US
We’re a STEAM engine to power kids’ imagination, creativity, and love of learning. Thinkery is where Austin’s children and their families come to enjoy play-based, inquiry-rich, hands-on learning experiences.
Mission: Lead the future of play-based STEAM learning experiences that inspire and equip all children to be confident, creative thinkers.
Vision: All children cultivate a lifelong love of learning.