Virginia Dicken-Gracen

AR5 – The Maker Movement

One of my earliest education memories is of the “Invention Convention” held at the

school I attended in Liberia, West Africa. Students were encouraged to imagine, design, and
create a new invention to be displayed at the annual event. I remember my two years of
“inventing” for this: One year, I used items found around the house to create a “shoe dryer.”
The other year, I designed a bookmark that could be adjusted to different heights to indicate
exactly what line the reader had stopped on. Interestingly, as an adult, I have seen
variations on both ideas now available commercially.
With my childhood memories of the “Invention Convention” and several items (still In
my possession) created in middle school shop class and home economics, I have been
intrigued when hearing about the modern maker movement. It is being discussed as a new
movement, but it has always been part of my life. Not only was I always designing and
creating new things in school, I was typically doing crafts and rigging up new, “more
efficient” systems in my bedroom. (I designed rope-and-pulley systems to raise and lower
objects from my loft bed to the small space below it that I used as my “secret hideaway.”)
Nothing about being a “Maker” feels new to me.
In their article about the maker movement, Halverson and Sheridan (2014) point out
that, while people have been creating things since the beginning of human history, the
maker movement is defined by not only creating but also sharing creations. It differs from
other recent revolutions in that it is focused on the creation of physical objects rather than
purely digital objects. They give a quick nod to the critique that maker culture has been
mostly white and male. This is something I have wondered about when hearing about the
maker movement, and I’m glad they brought it up (however briefly). It seems that what
leads this to be a “revolution” is only the people involved. Outside of white, male, nerd
culture, people have always been designing and making objects and sharing their creations.
This hobby may feel new and revolutionary to those who spent the last couple decades at a
computer creating only digital objects, but women’s crafting circles, rural 4H clubs, and other
groups have not been labeled “revolutionary” despite doing the exact same thing that these
young white men are now “discovering.”
The documentary, Maker (2014), furthers the idea that the “maker movement” is a
revolution emerging from a particular subculture. It tries to portray the movement as one for
all people, but of the 33 interviewees, 27 are male, and all but one of the females interviewed
are business partners with a male interviewee. A movement comes to be identified in a social
context. Nobody is writing exciting pieces about the women’s crafting movement (which
includes most, if not all, the components of the “maker movement”), because it isn’t exciting to
think about the work of our grandmothers, mothers, and sisters in designing and creating new
products, sharing them at craft fairs and on Etsy.com and in Youtube tutorials. We expect
crafting of women, so it does not seem “revolutionary.” And yet, there are several crafted
products around my house that make my life easier, and I am frequently amazed at the
ingenuity of these overlooked makers who designed them.
 In writing for the Huffington Post, Brit Moran (2013) does a good job of linking the
modern maker movement to home economics projects, the “DIY” trend, and craft nights. I
hope we can move the conversation about “maker-spaces” further in this direction, not calling
it a revolution but rather recognizing it as the modern continuation of a historical trend that, in
recent decades, was ignored by white male nerdy-types. Martin Zwilling (2014) points out
several benefits of the maker movement that should be considered assets for all, including
dedicated spaces for building skills and using tools, networking, and meeting demand for
customized products. Again, it is clear that these are resources that women’s crafting groups
have always offered.
As an educator, I am particularly interested in how the modern maker movement looks
when compared to my experience of the Invention Convention as an elementary student.
Martinez and Stager (2013) write about 3 “game changers” in this area. First, 3-D printers are
allowing students to create objects in new ways. Second, microprocessors and open-source
robotics software are connecting the digital world to the physical world. Third, programming
languages are becoming more accessible, and schools are encouraged to teach them. Martinez
and Stager are focused more on the digital aspects of the maker movement, and this is a clear
shift from my pre-computer experiences of inventing objects for our annual school event.
Perhaps if we more strictly defined the maker movement in terms of applied computer
technologies, I would feel greater comfort with calling it a “revolution.”

References
Halverson, E.R. & Sheridan, K. (2014). The maker movement in education. Harvard Educational
Review, 84(4), 495-504. DOI: 10.17763/haer.84.4.34j1g68140382063
Martinez, S.L. & Stager, G.S. (November 5, 2013). The ultimate guide to bringing the maker
movement to your classroom. https://www.weareteachers.com/making-matters-how-
the-maker-movement-is-transforming-education/
Morin, B. (May 2, 2013). What is the maker movement and why should you care?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-is-the-maker-movemen_b_3201977?
guccounter=1
Yang, Y-H. & Lai, I. (Producers), & Tsai, M. (Director). (2014). Maker: A documentary on the
maker movement [Motion picture]. http://makerthemovie.com/
Zwilling, M. (June 13, 2014). The make-it-yourself movement is a new mecca for entrepreneurs.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234775