CK Presents at National Education Conference

ConstructionKids small wood car with robot at New York Hall of Science, Queens.

On January 13-14, Deb Winsor, founder of ConstructionKids, presented two workshops at a national conference about hands-on learning as a component of the STEM Education Coalition (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Design, Make, Play: Growing the Next Generation of Science Innovators was hosted by the New York Hall of Science in Queens and drew a nationwide audience of educators, researchers, and innovators. The conference was sponsored by the New York Hall of Science in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology.

Design, Make, Play brought together the leading thinkers in the emerging field of hands-on learning. We at ConstructionKids appreciate the work of Dale Dougherty, (founder of Maker Faire), Tony Wagner (Innovation Education Fellow, Harvard University), and Kevin Crowley (Director of the Center of Learning in Out-of-School Environments, University of Pittsburgh). They are doing the research that prove with numbers and graphs what we see everyday in our workshop—that children learn well and differently with hands-on experience.

Deb had the opportunity to attend workshops on topics far removed from our wood-and-nail technology: teaching kids about hydraulics, polyhedral modeling, Lego engineering, and LED/robot technology, to name a few. In the midst of all the batteries, screens, and wires, the ConstructionKids workshop had a relatively modest stated goal: to build a small wooden car. Workshop attendees, all professionals in the field, used the same tools and methods as the kids in our workshop. But, as the workshop description described, “...the small wooden car is emblematic of the wide range of design challenges that educators face when incorporating hands-on learning into a STEM curriculum.” While workshop attendees had as much fun building as parents and children do in our workshop, Deb pointed out the educable features of the process, including the physical mastery of a new skill, sequential assembly, and importantly the intuitive design and planning that children exercise. Drawing on our experience with schools, homeschool children, mixed age groups, and inclusion classes, the Small Car workshop demonstrated the value and potential of a tactile experience as part of a STEM curriculum.

Participating in the conference confirmed for Deb that ConstructionKids is on the right path, that our focus on traditional materials and tools is a great pathway for educating children to be creative thinkers of modern science and technology. Notable of the Design, Make, Play conference was research that underscores the importance of early family and school experiences in shaping children to be enthusiastic and confident learners. We here at ConstructionKids are grateful for all the adventurous parents who send their kids to our shop and are more than ever dedicated to using our tools to help your children be confident, creative learners.


ConstructionKids small wood car, with robot, and polyhedral paper model at New York Hall of Science, Queens.

Tags: STEM, Maker Faire, Maker, Hands-on learning, Education