COLLABORATIVE MAKING: AN EXERCISE IN VERTICAL LEARNING IN THE MAKER AGE

The maker movement has gone beyond empowering users to create objects, but has spurred innovation in future generations of designers to create entire systems. Where once the access and use of a 3D printer or CNC router could facilitate the production of discrete widgets, the onset of physical computing has allowed people to develop robust systems. The synergy of embedded technologies, coding, and digital fabrication have created an infrastructure where not only are maker spaces ubiquitous, but that their presence is increasingly cascading into younger generations of users. Currently pre-school children are able to access and engage with these technologies which once were in the realm of college electrical courses. The modern maker movement is not isolated by demographics. This paper outlines a collaboration between a university design program and a summer program for children in developing curricula and creative outputs that were displayed in the public sphere. The vertical learning among the different stakeholders in creating this initiative highlights the need for educators at all levels to be aware of the technological, collaborative, and curricular shifts in contemporary education.