All human beings make stuff, UB faculty member Sam Abramovich says. So imagine making something that satisfies a personal, customized need, or solving a problem for your family, or finding a way to express yourself through an art that is as fulfilling as it is fun.
And now look at this through the eyes and thinking of an educational researcher. How does this creative process help people learn? What motivates people to make stuff? How can educators use the desire to make stuff to help people learn?
That’s the essence of a three-year, $346,000 grant secured by Abramovich, assistant professor in the departments of Learning and Instruction, and Library and Information Studies in the Graduate School of Education. He will collaborate with the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library to develop reliable and valid ways to measure the learning and associated benefits of making in…