A1) My favorite challenges http://worlds-of-learning.com/2016/10/26/what-constitutes-making/

A2) I love using a variety of materials as the basis for inquiry and having the students explore the possibilities of things like wood, cardboard, cement, and craft material. This, combined with tools (low & high tech) and a challenge like “make a self portrait using ______” can yield amazing works of art that draw upon a variety of areas.

A3) The best way to keep the walls wide and invite as many tools and materials to be used, is to give a problem solving prompt. Have students interview teachers or a family member to find needs they can address in multimodal fashion.

A4) One of my favorite challenges we did in our middle school was a Toy Design Challenge. I have a 3 year old son, and I brought him into the library one day after school (although I guess you could videotape/Skype). The students had to “interview” my son (consumer research) to figure out what he was interested in and what he disliked. They also had to figure out what in the world a 3 year old was actually capable of doing (some of my middle schoolers weren’t sure if 3 years olds could talk). After doing the interview, they had to use anything to create a toy – and that was the only rule – THEY had to create it. They had a timeline and they had free range to any of the materials in the library but could bring things from home as well. After 3 weeks, we brought my son back in to “test” the toys and pick his favorite. This was so much fun! It was a toss up between the cardboard marble run or the Team Umizoomi soccer game. It was really powerful to see the kids go through the entire design process from the initial research all the way to the “pitch”. It was a blast!