Makers& Learners IPD program

1. Combining Educational Forces The IPD master’s program:They learn how to creatively find practical answers in constrained situations, and learn to do so in a collaborative, interdisciplinary setting

2. The opportunity to learn in an interdisciplinary environment is what inspired Lewis to apply to the program,

3. Taylor Caputo wanted to expand her knowledge beyond fine arts and into product design

4. To bring Cirkits to market, Caputo and Lewis leveraged what they had learned in IPD to tackle the foundational aspects of developing a business. Lewis, Cirkits’ design strategist, parlayed her background in business and design into a key role in conducting product research, Celia Lewis, the design-strategist, and Taylor Caputo, the design-maker, collaborate to create a children’s craft kit using electrical circuits

5. Kafai oversees and guides the educational design aspects for Cirkits, while Telhan manages design and engineering decision making.

6. The product launched its first funding initiative in January with a Kickstarter campaign, which quickly earned Kickstarter Staff Pick status. “This was our first time using crowdsourcing as a model to partially fund and disseminate our research

7. My biggest hope for Cirkits is that it becomes the launch pad for a series of educational materials that combine crafts and technology, both high- and low-tech designs for learning,” adds Kafai.

8. Along with developing the Cirkits product and business model, Lewis and Caputo are partnering on their IPD thesis, developing a product similar to Cirkits. “We’ve been researching different kinds of fabrication processes and discovered that most people don’t know how many of the objects around us are made

9. explains Lewis. “We’re seeking to address this gap by designing manufacturing kits that teach children about different kinds of processes —injection molding, extrusion, die cutting and more

10. In the same way that Cirkits is an intersection of design, strategy and innovation, so too is the duo’s new project

11. We’re very proud of how we’ve translated various pieces of research and thought into a tangible product. Now we are pushing further to inspire children to become makers,” says Caputo.