ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the Make-To-Learn Youth Contest as a way to inform what people know about youth's making and learning practices as part their broader work in the Make-to-Learn initiative. The questions provided qualitative data on their conceptual and analytical processes as designers, providing insights for researchers on learner-centered principles of design. So often, when people think about designing for students, adult perspectives are privileged. Alternatively, the Make-to-Learn Youth Contest privileges the voices and experiences of youth participatory media culture, which they view as an opportunity to co-construct knowledge within a participatory frame. Open competitions and design challenges occur for many research and educational purposes, including idea generation, youth engagement in STEM, and to openly display work to a broader public. The techniques for using tools and materials included how to use an X-ACTO knife, how to raise fire temperature for forging metal, and specific types of stitching techniques.
