Grass Valley Elementary is a small elementary school in the Oakland Unified Public School District serving just under 300 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Two Grass Valley teachers, Paula Mitchell and Diana Culmer, recently participated in the Agency by Design research project, and were instrumental in a larger school-wide effort to bring maker-centered learning into the core school curriculum.

Check out the video below, which was created with Agency by Design Oakland as part of a series showcasing the work of participants in the 2016-2017 fellowship cohort. And click here to read a longer blog post about the development of maker-centered learning at Grass Valley Elementary!

Agency by Design is a research project exploring the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning. The project began in 2011 as collaboration between the Abundance Foundation and Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero. The initial phase of research studied the practice of maker-centered learning in the K-12 context and included an action research component based in Oakland, CA. The most recent phase of the project includes an ongoing Oakland-based fellowship that provides professional development, coaching, and funding opportunities to local educators who incorporate maker-centered learning in their practice.