Tuesday, 06/Oct/2026: 11:45am – 1:15pm
Saman J Qarni, Emma Horton – University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Digital technology is now fluidly integrated into children’s everyday experiences, making it central to education. It is also a priority area for policy makers and industry leaders who call for children to be equipped with 21st century skills needed for a rapidly changing job market. However, the integration of digital technologies into modern K-12 education is constrained by a dominant technological approach, which prioritises the acquisition of discrete specialised skills over the quality of learning experiences (Justice, 2015). Technology in education is currently positioned as driving progress and essential for solving educational problems, with teachers merely needing the ‘right’ tools and training to keep pace. This leaves both children and teachers with a myopic and superficial understanding of digital tools and prevents critical or creative use of technology.
Further, many schools face persistent challenges including the cost of resources, limited professional development, personal beliefs about teaching and concerns regarding the potential loss of classroom control (Hira et al., 2014). Consequently, although digital making and coding are essential for 21st-century literacy, many educators have low confidence in these areas and struggle to integrate these tools into existing curricula without disrupting established classroom routines (Guan, 2024; Johnson et al., 2016)
Aims
We would like to propose a shift from a technology-centric view of education to prioritising the quality of learning, connections and experiences that can take place when we integrate technology in a considered way. By leveraging the Maker{School} philosophy, the sessions seek to empower teachers to treat technology not as an end in itself, but as a medium for creative expression and critical inquiry (Blikstein et al., 2023; Cohen et al., 2017). We will illuminate some of the current issues schools are facing and situate our responses within our work with teachers and children.
This workshop helps teachers confidently adopt a post-digital approach into their practice. A core objective is to help educators identify and integrate the skills, interests, and cultural practices – known as “digital funds of knowledge”, that students have, thereby making learning more authentic and personally relevant (Keenan-Lechel, 2019; Shin et al., 2022)
Participants will gain a strong conceptual fluency in block based coding that moves beyond ‘how to’ skills to the universal logic of algorithmic concepts that remain consistent whether they are using Scratch, Octostudio, or MakeCode etc. By focusing on these core principles, participants will understand that switching between different coding platforms is unnecessary, gaining the confidence to adapt to any future tool without needing to relearn the basics. This is a key factor for supporting the development of critical and creative technology use by teachers and students.
Session structure
This workshop aims to shift the pedagogical focus from a technology-centric approach to a student-centred, constructionist framework (Sheridan et al., 2014). We invite participants to consider how technology can be used in the classroom and provide them with practical resources that we have used successfully with teachers. Participants will explore common obstacles, including limited access to resources, difficulty simplifying abstract concepts, and uncertainty over age-appropriate programming.
Participants will first engage in “unplugged” (offline) activities, which mitigate technical anxiety and clarify abstract computational thinking concepts without the barrier of software complexity (Kay & Buxton, 2024; Videnovik et al., 2021). Attendees will experience a hands-on approach to coding education, followed by exploration of the free digital platform OctoStudio for collaborative projects.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Participants will gain confidence in designing learning experiences that start with accessible offline coding alternatives to ensure equitable entry for all students, regardless of their prior digital proficiency (Hughes et al., 2018).
Whilst gaining an overview of OctoStudio’s technical features such as incorporating photos, voice recordings, and sensor inputs like tilt, shake, or tap to create interactive digital stories (Colvert et al., 2024), attendees will also develop the capacity to weave coding into interdisciplinary projects with physical computing to develop creative thinking and achieve existing curricular aims (Kay & Buxton, 2024).
Carlos Castro, Laura Farinetti, Daniela Finotto, Lorenzo Galante – Politecnico di Torino
Flavio Renga, Marta Risoli – LINKS Foundation
Project-based activities are valuable learning experiences at all levels of education, particularly in STEM subjects. When a creative dimension is incorporated, these experiences can benefit from a playful learning environment in which learners are encouraged to explore tools and technologies, test ideas and hypotheses, and learn from failure within a non-judgmental and inclusive setting.
The “Creative Making: Imagine, Create, Play, Share, Reflect!” workshop aims to introduce participants to a pedagogical methodology for engaging students in meaningful, hands-on projects that promote digital competences and 21st-century skills, including critical thinking, through project-based learning.
Grounded in the principles of the Creative Learning framework developed at the MIT Media Lab—Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play—the workshop will be structured according to the Creative Learning Spiral, Imagine → Create → Play → Share → Reflect, adapted for a 90-minute session. Each phase is intended to inspire participants and to facilitate engagement and collaboration throughout the workshop.
Imagine – In the initial phase, participants are introduced to the principles of Creative Learning through brief inspirational examples. Facilitators employ a playful narrative to stimulate imagination and guide participants through an exhibition of inspiring artefacts, while encouraging hands-on exploration.
Create – Participants are encouraged to engage freely with the artefacts and adapt them according to their own imagination. The creative process is intentionally open-ended: participants may build on existing projects, remix ideas, or draw on one of the inspirational prompts presented during the introduction.
Play – Participants are encouraged to play and tinker with the project they have created. In doing so, they discover and learn from unexpected behaviors and ask new questions they didn’t know they had.
Share – Participants are encouraged to share their ideas and outputs with others. At this stage, the emphasis is placed on the creative process rather than on technical aspects, highlighting the value of expression, experimentation, and community.
Reflect – Participants are encouraged to reflect on the experience, particularly on its potential to promote learners’ critical thinking and digital competence. They are also invited to explore how the activity might be adapted and further developed in their own educational context.
Facilitators act as co-learners, while supporting participants during their creative exploration. To this end, they will be exposed to inspirational examples based on simple, readily available tools and materials, such as LEGO, Arduino, micro:bit, sensors and actuators, digital cameras, spreadsheets, and generative AI.
Just as Reflect in the Creative Learning spiral is not an endpoint but the starting point of a new iteration, this workshop is designed to be a beginning. Participants will leave with more than a set of tools or techniques: they will carry a new way of imagining teaching and learning — one that moves beyond “theory first, practice later” toward an exploratory, experience-driven approach.
Isabel Rubner, Elias Karavelidis – University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany
Critical Making combines critical thinking with hands-on, creative-practical work in open learning environments and links material practices with conceptual reflection (Ratto, 2011). This workshop provides insights into the design of a university seminar on Critical Making, which can equally be used as a format for in‑service teacher training (Resnick, 2007, 2017). In the EU project “Critical Making”, educational makerspaces are used in STEM teacher education to develop prototypes for sustainable cities – for example electrochromic windows for light and heat regulation or CO₂‑controlled automatic windows – that are explicitly linked to selected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and authentic teaching‑learning contexts (United Nations, 2015; UNESCO, 2020).
The aim of the workshop is to show (prospective) teachers how critical thinking, dealing with disinformation in scientific debates, as well as digital and experimental competences can be fostered through making projects that address socio‑scientific issues. The session includes (1) a brief introduction to the concept of Critical Making and to examples of misinformation about sustainability and technology (Ratto, 2011), (2) a moderated small‑group phase in which participants identify an SDG‑related problem and sketch a simplified prototype idea (e.g. a smart window in the context of a smart house), (3) a practical phase with selected demonstration setups on sensors, microcontrollers and electrochromic materials, in which the iterative cycle “imagine – create – play – share – reflect” is tested in an exemplary way (Resnick, 2007, 2017), and (4) a structured reflection on opportunities, limitations and possibilities for transferring these scenarios into participants’ own teaching or professional development settings in line with current Education for Sustainable Development frameworks (UNESCO, 2020).
References
Ratto, M. (2011): “Critical Making: Conceptual and Material Studies in Technology and Social Life”, The Information Society, 27(4), 2011, pp. 252–260.
Resnick, M. (2007). All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten. In Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity & Cognition (pp. 1–6). ACM.
Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity Through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. MIT Press.
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York: United Nations.
UNESCO. (2020). Education for Sustainable Development: A Roadmap. Paris: UNESCO. doi.org/10.54675/YFRE1448
Carolina Rodeghiero, Sebastian Martin, Jenny Fisher – MIT Media Lab, USA
Mariana Tamashiro – Institute for Future Technologies, France
Flavio Renga, Marta Risoli – LINKS Foundation, Italy
João Adriano Freitas – Creative Learning Network, Brazil
Context
Create a project inspired by a book using OctoStudio, a free mobile coding app from the creators of Scratch.
In this workshop, participants will first share stories, books and characters that they like, then create with coding blocks bringing photos, drawing, voice recording, text, and even mixing the digital creation with craft materials to animate their stories and bring them to life.
Together, we will experiment and brainstorm as educators on how this creative learning experience can be explored by students, sharing our projects, reflections and a full set of learning resources available to educators in supporting and engaging diverse learners in creating projects based on their own interests and ideas.
This activity is designed to be facilitated with OctoStudio, a coding app from MIT that works in mobile devices and Chromebooks. Created for creative learning, OctoStudio invites the making of interactive digital projects that merge with the physical world through the mobile device sensors, supporting creativity, literacy and physical activity. The app was designed to be culturally responsive through its features and graphics, and it has been used by more than 130 countries so far.
Aims
With this workshop, we aim to experiment and reflect with a creative learning activity that can be facilitated by educators and other participants in their own educational contexts, such as school, library, afterschool program and community.
In this process, we hope to share tips and tools, and learn from the diverse group of participants about their own ideas and potential localized perspectives for using Bring a Book to Life and other OctoStudio activities in engaging their students in meaningful learning experiences.
Session structure
Welcome, introduction and examples (15 min)
Hands-on exploring and creating with OctoStudio (40 min)
Sharing creations and reflecting creative process (15 min)
Expected learning outcomes
Explore hands-on creative learning approach possibilities for creating interactive projects to express ideas from a book or story;
Support students on developing visualization and storytelling skills through coding and in collaboration with others;
Offer educators new ways to engage students in new ways to engage in literacy and language skills classes and other educational activities.
Janika Leoste – Tallinn University, Estonia
MAKING THE FRAMEWORK WORK
A structured validation and co-design workshop for the TAME Maker Competency Framework
WHY THIS WORKSHOP
Maker education asks teachers to do more than operate tools. They must frame meaningful problems, facilitate open-ended collaboration, connect making to curriculum and assessment, support iteration and failure, and create inclusive, safe and sustainable learning environments. TAME is developing a Maker Competency Framework to make these expectations visible and usable in teacher education. This workshop invites participants to challenge selected framework components before they are refined for training and pilot use.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 90 MINUTES
WHAT THE SESSION PRODUCES
01 Structured ratings and reasons
02 Scenario evidence and context exceptions
03 Explicit decision and change log
04 Workshop report informing framework revisions
KEY QUESTIONS
WHO SHOULD JOIN
Teacher educators; pre-service and in-service teachers; makerspace practitioners; researchers; project and network leaders; and school-development actors. No prior knowledge of TAME is required.
EVIDENCE AND CONSENT
The workshop provides content-validity and usability evidence for selected framework components. It is one documented input in an iterative development process – not a claim that the entire framework is fully validated. Research participation and recording of feedback are voluntary; consent, anonymity and attribution choices will be explained at the start.
Max Mannsperger, Felix Koch, Jana Gleitsmann – University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany
Leontine Marleen Mannsperger – City of Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany
Museums, serving as out-of-school learning environments, are often pioneers in deploying innovative technologies for educational purposes. From large multi-touch display tables and VR applications and interactive simulations. This dynamic holds exceptional potential for teacher education at universities. The core challenge for teacher training is to train teachers for both the school of today and the school of tomorrow (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Consequently, the innovative goals of higher education and the innovative drive of museums form a highly synergistic partnership.
Since 2025, the XY University of Education has been cooperating with the YZ City Museum in YZ. The museum unites a rich urban history within a 15th-century half-timbered house with state-of-the-art technology (multi-touch displays, VR glasses and digital games).
Building upon these foundations, students in two biology courses at the XY University of Education develop digital, practice-oriented learning tools based on “state-of-the-art” technologies for a special exhibition on the topic of “Sustainability.” The pedagogical approach is twofold: (i) It is guided by the design-thinking cycle (Koh et al., 2015), which is well-suited for educational developments. Students progress through the stages of understanding, exploring, and crafting (Schmidberger et al., 2022). Furthermore, (ii) it integrates the principle of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). According to Bonsen & Rolff (2006), PLCs are groups of teachers who professionalize themselves based on shared goals and values and collaboratively develop curricula, making them an effective approach for initiating school innovations (Bonsen & Rolff, 2006). The cooperation between the museum and the students functions as a PLC in a broader sense: The museum benefits from the students’ subject- and media-didactic expertise, while the students acquire knowledge regarding exhibition design, target-audience outreach, and core subject content.
The context of the special exhibition leads directly to the making approach (3D printing, NFC tags, game programming). Making functions here as a “pedagogical double-decker”: On one hand, students gain practical experience that empowers them to establish maker education in their future professional environments. The novel experience of working in a makerspace and the enthusiasm for these technologies serve as catalysts for future school practice (cf. also Schön et al., 2016). On the other hand, students learn through making about making. They experience self-efficacy in acquiring “21st-century skills” such as project management, problem-solving and digital literacy alongside skills like computational thinking, and 3D design (Van Laar et al., 2017). In addition, foundational pedagogical frameworks are imparted that enable the learning-effective orchestration of digital technologies in teaching (Prieto et al., 2011).
The reciprocal knowledge transfer within the PLC also inspired a collaborative project to digitally convert museum paintings into 3D reliefs, making the exhibits accessible to visually impaired individuals.
In this workshop, the described “pedagogical double-decker” becomes directly tangible. Across four stations (Delightex, vibecoding, NFC tags, and 3D reliefs), we convey both the underlying pedagogical motivations and the practical tools needed to implement these technologies. Participants will have the opportunity to hands-on design VR worlds, program simulations, configure NFC tags, and generate 3D reliefs.
References
Bonsen, M., & Rolff, H. G. (2006). Professionelle Lerngemeinschaften von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52(2), 167–184.
Koh, J. H. L., Chai, C. S., Wong, B., & Hong, H. Y. (2015). Design thinking and education. In Design thinking for education: Conceptions and applications in teaching and learning (pp. 1–15). Springer Singapore.
Prieto, L. P., Holenko Dlab, M., Gutiérrez, I., Abdulwahed, M., & Balid, W. (2011). Orchestrating technology enhanced learning: A literature review and a conceptual framework. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 3(6), 583–598.
Schmidberger, I., Wippermann, S., Stricker, T., & Müller, U. (2022). Design Thinking im Bildungsmanagement. Innovationen in Bildungskontexten erfolgreich entwickeln und umsetzen. Wiesbaden.
Schön, S., Boy, H., Brombach, G., Ebner, M., Kleeberger, J., Narr, K., Rösch, E., Schreiber, B., & Zorn, I. (2016). Einführung zu Making-Aktivitäten mit Kindern und Jugendlichen. In S. Schön, M. Ebner, & K. Narr (Eds.), Making-Aktivitäten mit Kindern und Jugendlichen. Handbuch zum kreativen digitalen Gestalten. Books on Demand GmbH.
Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. John Wiley & Sons
Van Laar, E., Van Deursen, A. J., Van Dijk, J. A., & De Haan, J. (2017). The relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills: A systematic literature review. Computers in human behavior, 72, 577-588.