Learning with Head, Heart and Hand – A Plea for Maker Education

Learning with Head, Heart and Hand – A Plea for Maker Education

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
Global Innovation Gathering is proud to have Junge Tüfler*innen among our members. During workshops, they observe how children are fascinated by plants that make music, plasticine that glows because it can conduct electricity, or a talking poster. When they understand how these things are made, they quickly arrive at the point: "Maybe I can do that, too. I'll try that myself!" Doing things yourself to develop and experience your effectiveness is an essential part of maker education and, accordingly, at the heart of all learning formats. Through project- and problem-based learning, maker education strengthens key future competencies such as communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. A diagram shows the overlap of the 4K model (Communication Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking) with Digital Competencies (Reception, Reflection, Production). Maker spaces offer a near-limitless number of possibilities for exploration: also, digital skills can be taught here. Fascinating: the area for production, i.e. being able to design digital content and systems yourself. Illustration: Carlotta Klee. "Maker Spaces in der Schule: So...
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Critical Making awarded at Bali FabFest

Critical Making awarded at Bali FabFest

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
Picture by saadcaffeine During October's first quarter, FabFest Bali gathered experts and enthusiasts at Jimbaran Hub for ten days of inspiring activities and new connections at the premier conference for people-centred digital transformation. Representing the Critical Making project, former GIG Executive Board Member Regina Sipos explained: "How Critical Makers Propose Alternative Futures". The article, built upon the research conducted by consortium partners on the Critical Making project, explores how Making can be more gender-inclusive and support education and open-source hardware projects.  The Fab Fest team has unanimously chosen the Critical Making contribution as the best paper 🥇 presented at the sessions and hosted an extended conversation of about half an hour on the FabTV prime show. You can check Regina's research paper highlight session on their YouTube channel:  (starting at minute 27 but make sure to watch the previous discussion, too!). https://youtu.be/oqi8HB2LeUo?t=1650 In the video, Peter Troxler and Cindy Kohtala asked some critical questions, which were highly favourable and encouraging. Congrats to the whole Critical Making Consortium partners and all our fantastic co-researchers! 🇪🇺 The...
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Interview with Gertrude Goh from the Africa Makerspaces Network

Interview with Gertrude Goh from the Africa Makerspaces Network

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
The Africa Makerspace Network seeks to harmonize all makerspaces under one umbrella for growth and sustainable development in Africa. They achieve this by researching and contacting makerspaces in Africa, building makers' businesses, technical and entrepreneurial capacity, and enhancing prototype-to-product development and manufacturing. In this interview while in Berlin, Gertrude Gosh explains the Africa Makerspace Network and her work with Kumasi Hive in Ghana. https://youtu.be/_MhbhGWfkyo die Erstellung dieses Blogs Post  von der Stiftung Nord-Süd-Brücken mit finanzieller Unterstützung des BMZ Gefördert ...
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H-Fablab – Fuelling sustainable innovative solutions in Côte d’Ivoire;  starting with young makers

H-Fablab – Fuelling sustainable innovative solutions in Côte d’Ivoire;  starting with young makers

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
Dodji Honou conducting a practical training for kids at H-Fablab (all photos courtesy of H-Fablab) In the neighborhood of Bingerville about 45 minutes -1 hour from Abidjan, in the district of Angré,  stands H-FABLAB.  A digital manufacturing laboratory whose primary objective is to promote learning by doing among young people, whether or not in school, literate or not in French. The space was opened formally  in Sep 2021, but had been running informally for 2 years before that. They enjoy good internet access via a fiber connection, though electricity can be sometimes unstable Dodji Honou is  the founder of H-Fablab. His story begins in Togo, where he was born. And where his story with makerspaces  and innovation hubs began. He was a member of  Woelab now expanded into Hubcity in Togo, and in 2013 while there, his story with GIG also began. He met GIGers, Geraldine and Max , who introduced him to GIG.  He later moved on to Senegal to work with a...
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Please, Make things that Make sense!

Please, Make things that Make sense!

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
We are inviting makers & innovators globally to take part in the journey toward shaping a sustainable future of making.  Critical Making mentoring programme takes a deep dive into its principles:  Make Things That Make Sense: Create products and solutions that solve fundamental, real-world problems. Share How You Make: Develop guidelines that provide a framework for openly documenting everything about the project's making. Include Ecosystem Services: Aim to give back more than you take from the environment and include accounting practices that value natural resources. Integrate Local Knowledge: Build from within the community by working with local methods, materials and traditional resources. Build for Continuity: Design for the present and future; build social capacity, & aim for financial self-sufficiency.  Powering Inclusion and Openness. Critical Making adds scientific insights into the potential of the maker movement. Socially responsible making can show how global maker communities can offer new opportunities. Opportunities for young talents of all genders to contribute to an open society via open source innovation. You can learn more about...
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Building Innovation in Nepal: Impact Hub Kathmandu

Building Innovation in Nepal: Impact Hub Kathmandu

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
photo courtesy of Impact Hub Kathmandu Impact Hub Kathmandu is an open, inclusive and collaborative space designed to give social innovators, entrepreneurs and change-makers somewhere to meet, work, network and learn. They provide a friendly open space that welcomes people from all across Kathmandu, and beyond! They are part of a global network of 105+ Impact Hubs in over 60 countries, working across disciplines, acting across sectors, with amazing people putting ideas into action.  Impact Hub KTM provides business support to Nepali entrepreneurs and businesses with a social purpose. They connect, inspire and support impact entrepreneurs to scale up their projects and enterprises to address some of Nepal’s challenges,  convening changemakers to convert their passion and commitments into meaningful projects. They also have FabLab Nepal, a digital fabrication laboratory to learn, play, create, mentor, invent, and innovate. They provide access to the environment, the skills, the materials, and the advanced technology to allow anyone to make (almost) anything. Since establishment, they have worked...
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A full week of mAkE encounters in Berlin

A full week of mAkE encounters in Berlin

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
by Kirstin Wiedow In early June Berlin was packed with activities related to the mAkE project. Partners gathered over a week to engage in the Berlin - Africa Network Day, attend re:publica, spend a weekend networking during the GIG community weekend and finally co-designing mAkE project activities during a two-days consortium meeting. Gertrude Goh fro Africa MakerSpace Network making a presentation at the mAkE consortium meeting in Berlin What is mAkE actually and who runs it? mAkE is an EC-funded project that promotes cooperation and strategic partnerships between digital innovation hubs (DIHs) in Africa and Europe. (Click here to visit the project website) We understand makerspaces as digital innovation hubs that drive digital, local manufacturing and innovation in product design and development, learning, skills building and collaboration beyond software. They are important actors in the local digital innovation ecosystems in both Europe and Africa. A core aim of the mAkE project is to strengthen an innovation and start-up ecosystem by creating the necessary infrastructure for...
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The Makerspace at re:publica 2022 was on fire!

By Fadia Elgharib Comment Closed
We are humbled by the presence of all the incredible people at our Makerspace during the three days of re:publica 2022. Whether you came by to check out the Open Hardware Exhibition, made your name light up by building paper circuits, or visited us in our co-working space, your  attendance and generous contributions made the makerspace a little more special this year. Our nineteen workshops ran as planned, with eleven remarkable Speakers/Makers arriving fresh from all across the global south to tell us about their latest discoveries and creative ways to use AI and Technology to help their communities, and tens arriving from around europe. Workshops were full with people rounded up at the makerspace table to learn about what was being shared.  Makers from Brazil, Singapore, Iraq, and India, to name a few, met with their counterparts in Europe. We are always fascinated by how Global Makers simply speak the same language. It is this mix of technical knowledge combined with...
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The r0g_ way or the hard way

The r0g_ way or the hard way

By Fadia Elgharib Comment Closed
  On a sunny Monday afternoon, wandering through the streets of Charlottenburg, quietly tucked away on Knobelsdorffstrasse directly near Schloss Char  lottenburg lies r0g_agency, co-directed by longtime friends of GIG, Stephen Kovats and Susanne Bellinghausen.  “open culture” is plastered on the window in bold yellow lettering that if the sun hits it directly, it reflects perfectly over the white arched walls inside, further echoing core values of r0g_: accessibility, innovation, and peacebuilding. r0g_agency works with local grassroots organizations in the Global South to support openness within a developmental context.  As we walk through the front doors, we are warmly welcomed by our hospitable host, Stephen, and their summer intern from the University of Alberta, Lisa. Looking around, the walls are decorated with various educational materials, including a mock game board highlighting the dangers of irregular migration and the struggles migrants often face.  Currently, the list of ongoing projects is somehow interconnected and related to one another. From counteracting online incitement to violence with #defyhatenow...
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Join the HerMeNow Accelerator program

Join the HerMeNow Accelerator program

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
Are you a women led social enterprise in MENA or Africa? Join the HerMeNow Accelerator program to grow your social enterprise and increase your impact.  Designed for women-led social enterprises focusing on building impactful solutions in culture, mindset, and education, this 5 month program is almost entirely remote and online and so accessible to companies across MENA + Africa (including Armenia). The Accelerator will support 10 women-led social enterprises. The accelerator is hosted by Bloom, an organization co-founded by 2 of our members, Bilal Ghalib and David Munir Nabti, that helps entrepreneurs grow and build skills for thriving people, communities and planet, in collaboration with the Stardust Concept ESG and Impact Division. Eligibility Social Enterprises that are past the product/market fit stage and that: Already generate revenues or have considerable user and/or product tractionAre planning to expand their teamsAre economically viable in the long termAre responsible, inclusive, and social enterprisesAre based in MENA + Africa (including Armenia) Selected Teams Get: Funding to support an essential aspect of...
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