Some of the most creative artists from today’s maker scene discuss their process, workspaces and more in this inspiring guide to tinkering. The Art of Tinkering is an unprecedented celebration of what it means to tinker: to take things apart, explore tools and materials, and build wondrous, wild art that’s part science, part technology, and entirely creative. Join 150+ makers as they share the stories behind their beautiful and bold work—then do some tinkering yourself! This collection of exhibits, artwork, and projects explores a whole new way to learn, in which people expand their knowledge through making and doing, working with readily available materials, getting their hands dirty, collaborating with others, and problem-solving in the most fun sense of the word. Each artist featured in The Art of Tinkering shares their process and the backstory behind their work. Whether it’s dicussing their favorite tools (who knew toenail clippers could be so handy?) or offering a glimpse of their workspaces (you’d be amazed how many electronics tools you can pack into a pantry!), the stories, lessons, and tips in The Art of Tinkering offer a fascinating portrait of today’s maker scene. Artists include: Scott Weaver, Arthur Ganson, Moxie, Tim Hunkin, AnnMarie Thomas, Ranjit Bhatnajar and Jie Qi.

How can you consistently pull off hands-on tinkering with kids? How do you deal with questions that you can't answer? How do you know if tinkering kids are learning anything or not? Is there a line between fooling around with real stuff and learning? The idea of learning through tinkering is not so radical. From the dawn of time, whenever humanity has wanted to know more, we have achieved it most effectively by getting our hands dirty and making careful observations of real stuff. Make: Tinkering (Kids Learn by Making Stuff) lets you discover how, why--and even what it is--to tinker and tinker well. Author Curt Gabrielson draws on more than 20 years of experience doing hands-on science to facilitate tinkering: learning science while fooling around with real things. This book shows you how to make: A drum set from plastic bottles, tape, and shrink-wrap Magnetic toys that dance, sway, and amaze Catapults, ball launchers, and table-top basketball A battery-powered magic wand and a steadiness game (don't touch the sides!) Chemical reactions with household items Models of bones and tendons that work like real arms and ankles Spin art machine and a hovercraft from a paper plate! Lifelong learners hungry for their next genuine experience

Explore STEM concepts through making and tinkering!

"Smart, relevant and witty. Part page-turning narrative, part provocative argument, this is cultural criticism at its best." - Jeff Sparrow At a time when the labour market is failing as a source of security and identity for many, domestic tinkering is emerging as a legitimate vocation, in ways we haven't seen since pre-industrial times. Practices of repair, crafting, invention, building and improvising that take place in Australia's sheds, backyards, paddocks, kitchens and home-workshops are becoming a vital part of our informal economy and social cohesion, complicating distinctions between work and leisure, amateur and professional, production and consumption. Building on the work of historians, sociologists, psychologists and economists, but with a journalist's impulse for the currency of her story, Katherine Wilson documents domestic tinkering as an undervalued form of material scholarship, social connection, psychological sanctuary and political activism. Equal parts field guide and love letter, Tinkering: Australians Reinvent DIY Culture mounts a surprising case for the profound value of domestic tinkering in contemporary Australia. (Series: Monash Studies in Australian Society) Subject: Sociology, DIY Culture]

For over a century, Americans have translated their cultural anxieties and hopes into dramatic demands for educational reform. Although policy talk has sounded a millennial tone, the actual reforms have been gradual and incremental. Tinkering toward Utopia documents the dynamic tension between Americans' faith in education as a panacea and the moderate pace of change in educational practices. In this book, David Tyack and Larry Cuban explore some basic questions about the nature of educational reform. Why have Americans come to believe that schooling has regressed? Have educational reforms occurred in cycles, and if so, why? Why has it been so difficult to change the basic institutional patterns of schooling? What actually happened when reformers tried to reinvent schooling? Tyack and Cuban argue that the ahistorical nature of most current reform proposals magnifies defects and understates the difficulty of changing the system. Policy talk has alternated between lamentation and overconfidence. The authors suggest that reformers today need to focus on ways to help teachers improve instruction from the inside out instead of decreeing change by remote control, and that reformers must also keep in mind the democratic purposes that guide public education.

Introduction by Lorin Clarke This book tells the story of John Clarke’s writing life, including the fan letter he sent to All Black Terry Lineen when he was ten, a golf instruction manual unlike any other, Anna Karenina in forty-three words, and the moving essays he wrote after the deaths of his parents. Tinkering is full of surprises, and includes all kinds of puzzles and propositions. Each one has different rules but together they reveal the different facets of John Clarke’s comic genius. In these pages you will find Fred Dagg dispensing advice on everything from dentistry to dreaming, the complete history of the lost sport of farnarkeling, the famous ‘Quiz Answers’, and ‘Saint Paul’s Letter to the Electorates’ —a brilliant account of the Rudd–Gillard years that was first inscribed onto stone tablets. Tinkering also includes previously unpublished material including the ‘Doorstop Poems’, and the ‘Letters from the School’ suggesting what a serious matter birdwatching was for John Clarke. John Clarke was born in New Zealand in 1948. He was and remains one of Australia’s best known and most loved faces on TV. A comedian, writer and actor, his appearances included the famous Fred Dagg character, The Gillies Report and The Games. John’s books include The Even More Complete Book of Australian Verse, A Dagg at My Table, The Howard Miracle, The 7.56 Report and A Pleasure to be Here, The Best of Clarke and Dawe (2017). His only novel, The Tournament, was published in the UK and the US to great critical acclaim and will be republished in the Text Classics in November. He died in April 2017. ‘Tinkering is packed with puzzles and propositions, with tea-fuelled musings on everything from plumbing to Paul Holmes. A gem.’ North & South NZ ‘This book comes with some magnificent pictures of Clarke’s beloved birds and they seem to have represented the magic of the reality of the world to him. There is plenty of that magic in this book and everyone who liked John Clarke should buy it and find in it what will soothe their spirit. It will be there.’ Australian ‘ The late John Clarke, aka. Fred Dagg, really was a satirical one-off...Tinkering is packed with puzzles and propositions, with tea-fuelled musings on everything from plumbing to Paul Holmes. A gem.’ North & South ‘...Assessment of his The Games co-writer Ross Stevenson that Clarke was “the great satirist in the English language” is probably pretty close to the mark.’ Otago Daily Times

A new and expanded edition of one of the decade's most influential education books. In this practical guide, Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager provide K-12 educators with the how, why, and cool stuff that supports making in the classroom, library, makerspace, or anywhere learners learn.

A bewitching look at nonnative species in American ecosystems, by the heir apparent to McKibben and Quammen.

When Tinker Bell agrees to water Lily's flowers for a day, she discovers something about gardening: it's very, very boring. So tinkering Tink, ever the inventor, whips up a watering, shading, digging, planting, gardening machine and presents it to the astonished Lily. But alas, Lily explains to Tink that she likes watering, shading, digging, and planting by hand—just like Tink enjoys mending pots and pans and inventing things. Tink can't help but feel a little sad... will her amazing invention go to waste? /div divGorgeous, rich embossing enhances this sweet story, sure to charm the pixie dust out of parents and little fairies fans alike.

Encourage youngsters to get creative with this activity book that illustrates the principles of science–full of fun projects! Gather some basic tools and supplies from a hardware store, garage, basement, woodshop, or recycling bin. Now get ready to tinker, explore, and engineer with screws, bendy wire, metal washers, plastic pipes, dowels, electronics, LED lights, and more! Makerspace educator Ryan Jenkins inspires kids aged 8 to 12 to look at familiar supplies in new and unexpected ways, to think with their hands, troubleshoot tricky constructions, and sharpen their problem-solving skills. Kids are invited to imagine how to use the supplies on hand with projects, such as building Flexible Forts with cardboard and screws, making Art Robots with hobby motors, constructing a Water Factory with plastic pipes, balancing Sky Trams on strings, and engineering Surprising Switches with wire and foil. As they build, they'll learn about balance, center of gravity, comparative measuring, electricity, and more. Engaging photography jump-starts hours of curiosity and creativity. Start with a string, PVC pipe, cardboard ramp, or flexible tube—and see where it leads!