The Make it Open project built a sustainable infrastructure for open schooling in Europe. This project encouraged stronger connections between schools and their communities, so that education not only met the needs of students, but also those of the neighbourhood. Making education, citizen science and “constructionism learning” were used to make science and technology education more accessible and appealing. This made learning more tangible, practical and attractive for pupils. Make it Open not only enriched the knowledge of pupils, but also that of their families throughout Europe. In addition, the project contributed to open schooling becoming increasingly commonplace.
Open Schooling Navigator
Waag Futurelab collaborated with the Ir. Lelylyceum and De Regenboog Montessori school in Amsterdam-Zuidoost to develop teaching materials and educational scenarios for open schooling and to test them in practice. Schools in Warsaw, London and Jerusalem also participated in the pilot. Waag also developed the Open Schooling Navigator, an online platform filled with teaching materials and insights from the Make it Open pilots. This platform enabled teachers and schools to set up their own open schooling projects, both during and after the project.
Technasia
Waag collaborated with thirteen technasia in North Holland on a design assignment for more than 800 students aged 13 to 16. Within the Research & Design course, they reflected on the assignment “The circular neighbourhood”. Pupils were challenged to raise the profile of local makers in their neighbourhood and to think about sustainability and the reuse of materials. This tied in with the Centrinno project, which focused on the value of makers and craftsmanship. Promoting a maker mindset among young people was an important goal, which also contributed to an appreciation of practical professions.
The students mapped out waste streams of materials and came up with circular designs for their neighbourhood. Ultimately, they submitted their designs as instructables (step-by-step plans for a maker project) and got to work on new ways of presenting, including data physicalisation – a technique in which data is displayed in a tangible way to share insights.
