Spring Grantees! Repair in Education!
Students learned about repair from Transition Berkeley at the Community Earth Day Fair — Hosted by Berkeley Unified School District's Climate Literacy Initiative (Spring 2024 grantee).
INTRODUCING THE SPRING 2024 GRANTEES!
Taking Repair Into Educational Settings
Fix-It Fest and Makerspace Classes
Berkeley, California
The Berkeley Unified School District Climate Literacy Initiative and Middle School Makerspace Program will collaborate to teach week-long repair units in the district's three middle school Makerspaces. The in-school work will culminate with community repair events - Fix-It Fests! - at each middle school in the 2024/2025 school year (September 28, November 16 and February 8).
Through hands-on experience with repairing items, including their own, this project will educate students and families on repair's role in environmental sustainability; teach strategies for approaching broken objects; and cultivate a sense of capacity to take care of our material world.
Mend Like a Scientist
New York, New York
Columbia University / Barnard College’s STEAM in the City program will develop the “Mend Like a Scientist Initiative” for K–8 science teachers in New York City schools.
In a pop-up workshop, participants will utilize the scientific method to experiment with adhesion between different materials. The workshops serve a dual purpose: to mend damaged items at schools to divert waste from landfills, and to imbue learners with a scientific understanding of why unique properties of adhesives impact their ability to repair materials.
The initiative includes the dissemination of “FixKits” with binding agents, as well as an open-source curriculum on scientific method experiments in adhesive repair, published in their library of Teaching Resources.
Sustainable Fashion Design
San Francisco, California
SCRAP will expand its new Sustainable Fashion Design program, which looks at fashion design through the lens of sustainability.
Geared to students ages 12-18 in under-resourced communities, the interdisciplinary fashion curriculum offers students a deep understanding of how the fashion industry impacts the environment. Students will be equipped with the vision and skills to mend, repair and construct garments, extending the useful life of their clothing as long as possible, while developing their creative expression.
The project is a collaboration with community organizations serving youth, including the YMCA and San Francisco Unified School District.
Fix Forward
Rensselaer, New York
The Rensselaer Repair Café is partnering with the Robert C. Parker School and the Woodland Hill Montessori School to foster a repair mindset in K-8 schools through developing students’ interests, skills and confidence relative to repair. Grantee teachers are long-time Repair Café fixers and sponsor Repair Clubs in their schools.
The project will prototype mobile repair platforms — Fix-it-Carts — that are equipped with child-friendly, age-appropriate tools and materials, organized to meet the needs of children, and functional in a school setting. Grantees plan to create and publish detailed and practical lesson plans, examples and ideas for repair projects, and Fix-it-Cart building plans and supply lists. In this way, Fix Forward will design opportunities for children to develop their interests, skills, and confidence as they become the repair champions of the next generation.
Garment Repair and Upcycling Workshops for Teens
Los Angeles, California
Rediscover Center aims to bring fashion-forward upcycling and mending into libraries and similar public settings serving teens. In collaboration with the Los Angeles Public Library, Rediscover Center will develop workshop curriculum for garment repair, upcycling, and personalization.
Their materials will support creating teen-centered workshops in libraries and makerspaces, and will be published to Rediscover Center’s excellent catalogue of online resources of teaching resources.
Fix-It Shop
San Francisco, California
Repair in educational settings will have wide visibility in the Bay Area when the Randall Museum leverages their fantastic Woodshop, "Garage", and deep pool of maker-faculty to host a series of hands-on workshops on-site and at the Bayview Waterfront Park.
With the theme “Don’t trash it! Fix it!” and publicity primarily targeting youth, every Friday will be "Fix-It Friday" during five weeks of this summer's Randall on the Road off-site program. Workshop participants will be encouraged to see how they can apply creativity, basic skills, and on-line research to fix and renew a wide variety of household items.
Prior Grantees!
Visit the Grantees page to learn about other exciting initiatives by some truly amazing people. Then follow the links to their websites and get to know them better.
Educators!
Free materials to modify and use to get going quickly!
The Culture of Repair Project collects and collates links to educational resources from around the world. Materials range from fully-developed programs to resources designed to support teaching about repair, such as toolkits, lesson plans, videos, maps, schematics, and more.
Please suggest additions!
Educator Resources
Featured Resource
Repair What You Wear
Fashion and the Environment Education Project
Comprehensive, engaging, and high quality educational materials to take learning about textiles, clothing and their larger context into the classroom. Technical skills and information about mending, fibers, and dyes are complemented by resource-rich discussions of the environment, human rights, the circular economy and related topics.
Includes: lesson plans, learning intentions, materials required, research questions, ideas for further learning; extensive links to reference and supplementary materials. Developed to integrate into UK curricula but immediately relevant and adaptable to any school context.
Repair What You Wear also offers terrific Survival Sewing Skills videos for common mending needs -- jeans, buttons, Lycra, running shoes, and more.
A Waste Loop student celebrates a new fix in Leavenworth, Washington! (Spring 2023 grantee)
The Culture of Repair Project is currently focused on supporting teaching about repair in educational settings, and integrating the mindset, technologies, thinking skills, systems understandings, and value of taking care of the material world, into core K - 12 subject areas.
“Gear for a good time and a long time”
Rose Marcario - Former CEO of Patagonia
"Repair Is a Radical Act"
Read her excellent 2015 essay for a crystal clear statement about the relationship between repair and the environment, with an emphasis on the impact of the clothing industry.
Want to help do this work?
Opportunities to Get Involved!
In the East Bay and in Cyberspace
Check out other resources on the website.
And please suggest additions!
I look forward to hearing about more exciting repair programs, materials, and plans.