Build. Engineer. Tinker. Adapt.
The Beta Lab at UC Davis studies how young people learn and
develop through participation in making and the Maker Movement.
We investigate the nature of learning that occurs during
extended, youth-driven maker projects, and we design learning
environments and tools to support learning through making.
Project Personnel
Principle Investigator: Lee Martin, Associate Professor
of Education
Graduate Students: Jade Lee
Undergraduate Lead Mentor: Ann Rainey
Beta Lab @ Home
In person mentoring is on hold indefinitely due to COVID-19
closures, but we have moved our efforts online. We have partnered
with Maker Ed to standardize
making at home kits — visit our
supplies list to build your own — so that activities build
around these kits will be compatible across different maker
education efforts. We have partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Sacramento to
deliver some of these maker kits to families, and we are creating
online activities that make use of these supplies. Check out our
social media channels (below) for more information and search for
#HomeMakeKit for activities beyond our project :
Join Us
We still have opportunities for undergraduates to help us develop
online materials. Want to learn more? Fill out this form and
we’ll get back to you.
About the Name
Beta stands for Build, Engineer, Tinker, Adapt. Our lab
encourages a beta-testing approach to youth projects, where the
work is naturally seen as in process – substantive but imperfect,
where mistakes and setbacks are an expected part of the process
of learning and making.
