Casting a wider net
Teaching creativity differently.
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
CEO & Co-Founder Tinker.it!

Tinker.it! London

www.tinker.it

Dave Mellis
Gianluca
Martino
Tom Igoe
David
Cuartielles
Massimo
Banzi

Arduino.cc

Arduino
Open source hardware hacking platform
for artists, designers and hobbyists.

Arduino
A cheap and easy way to
learn and experiment with electronics.

The basics
Born out of academia in 2005
(Interaction Design Institue Ivrea)
Manufactured in Italy
Sold in 28 countries
More than 60K units sold

Arduino USB Mega
Lilypad
Pro Mini Nano

Arduino USB
Seeduino Freeduino
Boarduino Gainer IO

What can you do with it?
Pretty much anything you like…

Track your cat
CaTaLog http://www.nermal.org/

Track if your plants need water
Botanicalls

Tell the world your baby is kicking
Kickbee

Check how much energy you use
Ambient Orb & Current Cost meter hack, Nick O’Leary

Teaching Arduino
Hands on & learning by doing

MIT Media Lab, Boston
IDEO, Chicago
NYU, New York
Parson’s School of Design, New York
Smart Design, San Francisco
The Bartlett School of Architecture
Royal College of Art
Central St Martins
The AA
Goldsmiths
Middlesex University
St Paul’s School for Boys
University of Malmo, Sweden
CIID, Denmark
Interactive Institute, Sweden
INRIA, France
FH Postdam, Germany
Art + Com , Germany
Fabrica, Italy
Hyperwerk, Switzerland

Flexible teaching materials
Community moves faster than traditional publications

Open learning process
Help through online conversations/forums

Montessori 2.0
Help through conversations/meetups/housing

UK Hackspaces Arduinofun.com

5 Thoughts

0. CTL + C, CTL + V
Teaching programming through self-directed projects

1. Failure is part of the process
Expertise and success is an ongoing process

3. Teaching the value of open source
Sharing experiences and resources is a good thing
in a downturn.

4. Intergenerational experiences
Learning together, teachers, parents and students.

Thank you!
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
alex@tinker.it // twitter.com/tinker_it