Learning and Facilitation Frameworks

To support discussion of tinkering-based learning, the Exploratorium sought to articulate and refine a valid, evidence-based definition of learning in its on-floor "Tinkering Studio." We studied 50 learners and their companions in one of three facilitated tinkering activities in the Tinkering Studio. A team of researchers and practitioners used the videos to refine frameworks for learning and facilitation (initially developed in a prior project), leading to four Dimensions of Learning and three broad Facilitation Moves. We created a Library of Exemplars that categorizes over one hundred video clips according to the frameworks. The Library may help articulate important aspects of learning and facilitation, give voice to practitioners' values in defining learning-through-tinkering, and lay a methodological foundation for gathering evidence for such learning. The Framework and Library is available for download.