Aconcagua Fablab: Learning to Become with the World through Design and Digital Fabrication Technologies

Abstract

We reflect about the role of creative and innovative design/fabrication technologies in processes of learning to become with the world and understanding our place as humanity within nature. In particular, we present part of the work of Aconcagua Fablab, a mobile design and digital fabrication laboratory. We situate it in relation to the Fablab movement, highlighting its focus in generating processes of ecological understanding, immersion and literacy, working in association with BioGeoArt, an action‐research project inquiring about humanity‐nature relationships in Chile. Unfolding this discussion, we present two workshops developed by Aconcagua Fablab with children and young people, focused in designing / fabricating artefacts and occasions for the exploration of more‐than‐human languages in territorial expressions and immersion in sensitive landscapes – one of them focused on biomimesis and filotaxis; the other one on soundscapes. In doing so, we discuss digital fabrication technologies from a convivial conceptualization, in relation to a more‐than‐human geographical understanding of nature, and concepts such as relational agency, intra‐action, more‐than‐human languages and representation, and situated knowledge, arguing for the role that these technologies and arts in general can play, when used within creative and collaborative learning processes, in awakening ‘the curiosity about life on earth that we will need to limit the destruction we call Anthropocene and protect the Holocene entanglements that we need to survive’.

Management framework for higher education institution-based community innovation labs

“…While the direct implication of HEIs in the activity of fab labs has not been analysed in depth or seen as a driver for the activity of most labs, universities have been signalled as a significant stakeholder in such activity. This was especially pointed out with regard to producing an increased curiosity and propensity to pursue higher education in those attending lab related projects (Garcia-Ruiz & Lena-Acebo, 2022;Jeldes et al, 2022).…”

Maker Math: Exploring Mathematics through Digitally Fabricated Tools with K–12 In-Service Teachers

“…Furthermore, internationally, there has been momentum for introducing digital fabrication, particularly FabLabs, at the primary and secondary levels to explore how mathematics can be more broadly and harmoniously contextualized across the spectrum of nature and the arts [45]. As such, more opportunities are emerging for teachers and students to learn how to use these technologies as part of the educational process.…”

“…This study is situated within the context of multiple initiatives that seek to broaden the study of mathematics in relation to nature and the arts. While the guiding premise of the study stems from the NCTM's Catalyzing Change series [1][2][3], the authors acknowledge that international efforts are taking place within the global FabLab network to explore the intersection of mathematics, nature, and the arts through digital fabrication [45]. Integrating new tools, technologies, and pedagogies is challenging since school systems and teacher education programs do not teach integrated curricula.…”