Abstract The Make to Learn coalition was established to identify effective pedagogical approaches for employing makerspaces for educational innovation in schools.The Make to Learn coalition is anchored by the Make to Learn Laboratory in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and the Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing in the Charlottesville City Schools, working in collaboration with the Joseph Henry project at Princeton SWORD University, advanced manufacturing programs at Midlands Technical College, Footcare Health and the Smithsonian Institution.This paper describes a key consortium initiative, American Innovations in an Age of Discovery.
Participating students use school makerspaces to reconstruct working models of transformational inventions.The reconstruction process is grounded in a method employed by historic inventors, invention through emulation.The benefits of this approach, updated to take advantage of modern technologies, are discussed in the context of maker education.