Learning By Doing

Since its founding, SparkleLAB has developed an experience-based pedagogy that empowers young people as makers. The simple idea is that of active engagement: Young people learn by doing. As kids build drones, design videogames, develop wearable technology and produce interactive media, learning by doing is at the heart of our process. 

Learning by doing provides opportunities for young people to acquire content knowledge and skills in meaningful ways. More importantly, active engagement nurtures a love of learning and a desire to understand the world and how it works. As young people tinker, build and create, they learn through trial and error – developing a growth mindset and an understanding that failure is safe, failure is necessary and failure is an integral part of the learning process. 

Learning through play

At SparkleLAB, we believe that learning begins in wonder. The capacity for lifelong learning involves the ability to be at awe of the world, thrilled by the unknown and exhilarated by possibility. Our multidisciplinary teams of educators, designers and technologists take this to heart as they architect experiences that give rise to play and learning.

At times, SparkleLAB acts as the secret headquarters of a movement known as the Resistance, where recruits hone their game design skills to restore play, fun and laughter in a dystopian Philippines where play is outlawed in the name of productivity and progress. Other times, SparkleLAB is home to a mad scientist named Steele and her apprentice named Cogs. Together, they travel through time and learn about the history of toys as they develop toys that move, speak, see and think. Sometimes, play is structured and guided. Other times, it is completely free. But play is ever present in our programs as young people travel through fantasy worlds filled with quirky characters and lots of adventure. Learning is immersive, motivational and fun.

SparkleLAB understands that education is an ecosystem and that young people learn across a variety of contexts. Our programs provide young people with opportunities to engage in learning experiences that extend far beyond the classroom. From designing smart home systems that increase energy efficiency to developing low-cost playgrounds for children in low-income communities, SparkleLAB kids are empowered to develop innovative solutions to problems both local and global and use the world as a testing ground for their ideas and innovations. From slums to vehicular traffic, dengue outbreaks and natural disasters, the Philippines itself becomes an opportunity for research, development, testing and 21st century learning.

Learning together

A diverse team of experts

Poets. Scientists. Economists. Anthropologists. Game developers. Engineers. Our learning experiences are designed, delivered and assessed by multidisciplinary teams of educators, content experts, multimedia artists, designers and engineers. Young people learn through the guidance of empowered, invested facilitators and lifelong learners who combine domain expertise with a passion for teaching and a knack for fun. 

Peer to peer learning

In school and out of school contexts, online and offline, young people learn from one another as they assume roles and develop projects individually and collaboratively, within and across disciplines. Constructive, timely, and meaningful feedback from mentors and peers alike is an essential component of the learning process.  

Communities of practice

SparkleLAB is a connected space where ideas, models and methods are informed by and developed with communities of practice across physical and virtual worlds. Over the past six years, our students have formed part of global communities that range from MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group Scratch online community and DIY.org to Kickstarter, the Cartoon Network and Little Bits. Our students have also nurtured local communities of their own, from a Minecraft Club and varsity Quidditch team to a Dungeons and Dragons league and an all girls book club.

Young people learn best when given opportunities to work on projects that are meaningful to them. At SparkleLAB, our students are inspired by possibility and empowered by choice – knowing they have the power to direct their learning experiences. Our programs encourage young people to pursue their interests, discover their passions and create projects of relevance to themselves and their communities. Moreover, interest-driven and personalized learning environments increase student engagement and allow young people to achieve mastery by leveling up at their own pace.

Across SparkleLAB’s programs, young people explore emerging technological contexts from games, virtual reality and geo-tagged data to intelligent systems, AI and machine learning. Young people come to understand the affordances of technology and develop purposeful applications in real-world contexts. They are encouraged to ask questions, seek answers and imagine innovative solutions to simple and complex problems by utilizing systems thinking and the principles of human centered design.