Curious Hands: Moving Making to the Core of Education

We do not think with our heads alone, but also with our hands. Making something with our hands sharpens the mind and stimulates the development of knowledge and personality, social interaction, and sustainable thinking. But how do you actually learn to make something? Curious Hands explores this in practice and develops learning methods that awaken curiosity in the hands.

To place making at the heart of education, we need a detailed understanding of how the act of making is learned. We conduct research in two settings: (a) in the workshops of Minerva Art Academy, where students learn to work with various materials and technologies, and (b) in the educational laboratories (E-Labs) of four secondary schools within Openbaar Onderwijs Groningen, where technology, art and craft are taught in an integrated manner. 

The Curious Hands project develops knowledge about how learning through making actually works, and creates a range of pedagogical formats to better integrate making into secondary and higher education.