Oskar is an eight year old boy with a mission: to build a machine to find and dig up treasures in his garden. Because, so he wonders, what if an ancient Roman treasure is hidden under the grass? Just think about it, what if he and his family moved away and they hadn’t searched for the treasure? What if another family moved in who immediately would find the treasure? Wouldn’t that be awful?
So Oskar invented a “Look-For-Treasures-And-Dig-Them-Up-Machine”. He thought about what the machine should be able to do, and made a beautiful drawing showing how it would look like. He even wrote a user manual. And now he wants his machine to be build as well. But how? His father is all thumbs (at least that’s what his mother always says…). So what can he do?

STEP 1. IDEA:

children from primary schools invent and present (via drawings, models, manuals, …) their own ‘Dream Machine’. Anything goes: from a machine that helps you to put peanut butter on a sandwich to a machine that cleans your room. The main criterion is that it’s relevant for the child who really, really wants it.

STEP 2. CONCEPT:

higher education students (e.g. product design, game design students, engineers, architect students, art students) propose one or more solutions to design those machines. The best solutions – according to the children – then are selected and further developed.

STEP 3. WORKING PROTOTYPE:

finally, the technical drawings/designs and working concepts are handed over to Technical Secondary Schools . They build real prototypes of those machines, assisted by the kids who invented them and the higher education students who designed them.

Throughout this whole process the children, pupils and students can use the expertise and support of a wide range of local corporations and organizations who share a common view on creativity and innovation.

Forbes’ article on MyMachine

Step 1-2-3 in our methodology are not divided steps. On the contrary. The whole process is based upon co-creation, collaboration of all students of all levels, working together as peers.

Empathy is our ability to see the world through other people’s eyes, to see what they see, feel what they feel, and experience things as they do. MyMachine takes the ideas from children serious. We listen to them. And even more, we work on their ideas. A life changing experience for them. The result from a 2019 LinkedIN survey asking about the most important leadership skill, defined empathy as the most important skill.

Empowerment of all students is key to us! Therefore MyMachine does not incorporate a substantive framework and it is not a competition. All students involved are winners. All ideas are winners.

Students of all ages learn-by-doing all the core steps of design thinking, necessary to translate the invention of a new product into a design concept and a working prototype.

Inventing a dream machine. Translating an idea into a concept. Translating a concept into a working prototype. All of these steps challenge the students to be very creative to make it all work.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics. MyMachine embraces technical and technological talents, creative ideas and engineering solutions. Students gain insight on what STE(A)M means in real life. They learn how these skills might trigger their future professions.

All students learn though MyMachine what it means to go for it. To create something that nobody else has done before. They learn not be afraid of doing something new to the world, no matter how strange the idea might sound in the beginning. They learn that by collaborating in groups, respecting each other talents, you can take on any idea and make it work.

Joy and wonder promote learning. They increase dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen. Optimal brain activation occurs when people are in positive emotional states or when the material holds personal meaning, connects to their interests, is presented with elements of novelty, or evokes wonder.

Today’s jobs increasingly require knowledge in STE(A)M areas, along with competence in what are commonly referred to as 21st-century, non-cognitive, or social-emotional skills—capacities such as creativity, communication, collaboration, and persistence.

Students participating in MyMachine identify their passion(s) and talent(s). Some discover they are good in communicating or in creativity or in technology, others in project management or in leadership.

Considering our focus on invention, design, and making, maker-centered learning emphasizes looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity as three core maker capacities.

Much as Harvard identifies agency as a keystone in empowering maker-centered learning, MyMachine supports the development of students’ agency both as makers and as learners, by instilling participants with an I can do that attitude both toward building machines with social value and toward navigating the social system that supports learning in their community.

By placing students in a network of interacting mentors, makers, and doers the participants have opportunities to form relationships across domains of expertise and across age levels that could positively impact the net social capital of the community.

They learn that they can contribute to society, rather than just be a consumer of society.

MyMachine supports sustained inquiry around a challenge and carefully attends to promoting agency and reflection throughout learning.

By being explicit about how MyMachine is aligned with and even extends traditional notions of Project Based Learning, we transform learning experiences in the participating schools.

MyMachine is focusing on Agency and Ownership through sustained inquiry and brings meaningful integration of disciplinary content and practices.

MyMachine intends that students not only enjoy the experience of learning, but also develop essential disciplinary ideas and practices. This becomes possible with intentionally designed opportunities for making progress toward these goals.

We bring MyMachine to the global community by launching official MyMachine Chapters. Once a Chapter is created, the MyMachine model creates a unique open collaboration between all educational levels. The bringing to life of the dream machines is a completely open process that anyone can follow and contribute to.

Higher Education Students, Technical Secondary Students and Elementary School Children learn a lot through MyMachine