Luigi Anzivino
Professional Development Lead
The Tinkering Studio @ The Exploratorium

Casey Federico
Early Childhood Education Consultant, Trainer, Designer, and Coach

The Tinkering Studio is a learning laboratory that has been developing activities and learning approaches centered around making, tinkering, and reflecting for over 15 years. We have a long history of Professional Development workshops with the aim to co-create and implement a tinkering approach and practice in both formal and informal environments. With the advent of COVID-19 and the need to shift all PD online, we are experimenting with — and learning from — ways to use this medium. In this moment of reinvention, responsive professional development is more important than ever.

In this session, we will engage together in a hands-on tinkering activity, using materials that are easy to gather at home, with a focus on a quick but rich experience. Then we will reflect on the experience as learners, and finally go “meta” in order to deconstruct the elements of the tinkering learning process that best supports a tinkering disposition and practice.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

We will explore balance with all kinds of materials. Here are some ideas for things to collect:

• vegetables and fruits (you can cut them in half to make bases)

• pencils, pens, chopsticks

• glasses, mugs, and jars

• objects of different weights like hooks, metal washers, coins

• materials to make connectors, such as cardboard, clay, play-doh, clips, buttons

• raid your kitchen for interesting utensils, spoons, and forks!

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

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Luigi Anzivino

Luigi Anzivino envisions a world where people can learn by doing in messy, unusual, and inventive ways, without fear of failure. To help with that he contributes to the design, prototyping, and facilitation of hands-on making activities for the Tinkering Studio. In his work as a Professional Development Lead, Luigi focused on developing, documenting, and sharing with others in the field rich learning experiences, with the goal of creating a physical, cultural, and social space that is safe for trying out tentative ideas, not knowing the right answer, and developing the skill of posing—even more than solving—interesting problems.

Casey Federico

Casey is an early childhood educator based in San Francisco. Her passions include supporting Bilingual and Bicultural families, teacher-led professional development, fighting for equity in early childhood, and tinkering for all ages. During shelter-in-place, she is  a consultant and trainer with San Francisco's Preschool for All program and the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium, and parenting two young learners at home. Her 2020 uniform includes a tool belt, glue gun, and a great memory for Zoom passwords.