Good evening.
So, I help young people grow up in what is called a Fablab.
I think some of you know what a Fablab is,
maybe some went there,
but in fact, what is really a Fablab?
The idea of Fablab, she was born at MIT.
She was born at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
One of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Neil Gershenfeld designed and developed a template for his classes
which was the “Bits of Atoms”.
His idea was how to program the material.
How with machines I can program the material.
One of the simplest ways to understand this idea,
it’s about thinking of 3D printers.
So, you will tell me:
“Ok, that’s nice, but what can we really do, concretely? “
Well, in fact, in a Fablab, we can do everything.
We can make robots, drones, 3D printers among others.
Machines that make machines can be made.
In fact, we can do whatever we want, when we are able to do it.
This idea is so extraordinary,
that today, there are thousands of Fablabs in the world.
So, personally, I think it’s a very good idea,
but we could do better.
I will explain myself.
What we could do better,
in fact, we could go beyond the Fablab production tool.
One could think of the Fablab as a tool for human development.
We, we made the bet, we mounted two Fablabs in the Paris region,
one in the 93 and in the 95,
where we learn and help young people to grow, to individualize, to learn.
Why ? Because the Fablab contains in itself already
the germs of full learning.
For example,
problem-based learning is perhaps one of the most interesting things.
Why ?
Because when I solve problems, I can build the solution afterwards.
Find the solution, do it.
And that is extremely interesting to develop.
Only, to be able to do it, it is also necessary to develop skills.
Three skills are needed for this.
The first is to develop one’s attention.
The second is to develop perseverance.
And the last one is to build thinking,
to elaborate his thought.
In fact, what seems to me the most important in these three problems,
they can answer
to a problem and a much bigger issue.
Today, we all face this problem:
technologies capture our attention.
And this catch of attention somewhere destroys our abilities a little bit.
It must be understood that without effort, one can not learn.
There are no magic tricks, even if we use machines.
I will explain to you what I do with young people.
We did a workshop, for example, where we had to build a robot
and I gave them the instructions to do it.
They had the 3D models to do it, so you just had to print them.
In fact, I realized they could not do it.
Why ?
Already, first,
because they had difficulty understanding the instructions.
Not that they do not understand what is written.
Simply because they do not have methods.
And the Fablab can help that, by dint of doing.
Then I also noticed
that they had problems of the order to do, to assemble,
to build this robot.
They had problems with dexterity, let’s say.
Somewhere, a kind of lack of connection with reality.
We must rebuild this link and the Fablab can be this place.
And to finish,
also,
I just gave them the 3D files to print to make the robot.
They could change them, do other things with them,
but they had a lot of trouble
if only to already print these parts all pre-made.
Because, in fact, use machines,
it’s not just pushing a button.
In fact, it is also moving his know-how with the machine,
towards the machine.
Machines are ultimately an extension of our capabilities.
You have to learn how to use them.
Then, what I would like to say about it,
there is no magic button that will do things for us.
Machines, it is not because we will press on them
that they will do everything for us.
We must understand that digital will not make us more creative.
Creativity is much more complex.
On the other hand, the digital fluidifies our learning,
he simplifies them a little.
It helps us to be a little more attentive, if we use it well.
For example, we did a design workshop,
we designed a lamp,
and the same, I realized
in fact, there were plenty of simple concerns.
For example, young people could not express,
to tell me, to share with each other,
what they really wanted to do, why.
Because they did not know how to draw. They did not know how to develop a project.
They did not know how to go from that idea to realization, if only in 2D.
Or at least be able to tell others.
So, you have to develop these capacities, you have to work on those capacities.
The Fablab can allow to work them.
Then, I also found,
once we had managed to solve this problem,
which in the end took a lot of time and was a little disturbing.
We started to make, we will say, the models.
So I gave them some modeling clay, I gave them some cardboard,
I said, “Go ahead.
We will reproduce your idea now in real life, with our hands.
Because it is very good also with the hands. “
In fact, I realized
that they could not give shape to the matter as they wanted,
they could not bring up what they wanted,
they could not assemble the boxes, the pieces, the models
as it should be.
So, finally, I realized that they had a real problem.
They could not understand the real.
To understand how something holds,
how a model is made.
So, they did not incorporate these constraints.
You really have to work on that.
That is, digital is not an opposition to learning.
We must first learn
to continue to be stronger with digital.
Then, finally, we digitized these models,
once we had finally managed to do something real,
concrete, physical.
We tried to scan them.
There, I realized that in fact, they could not model in 3D.
They could not understand what space was in virtuality.
Why ?
Because, in fact, they could not create a link between a circle, a square
and how to use these forms
to be able to develop and do things
that look like what they did.
And that, the same, it works, it develops.
And this awareness of space, it will not come by magic.
Creativity is a skill.
It is a skill that as such, works, is cultivated.
You have to give yourself time to learn,
and give yourself time to develop your skills.
Roughly speaking, what can be said of these experiences,
of this set of things that I could experiment with young people,
Fablab is a great way to learn differently.
He gives other ways, other methods
to learn what the real is, but also the technologies.
It is a little this place, this pass, between two spaces.
You have to really understand
that the Fablab is a space of socialization,
and that it will allow young people to develop as they go,
in their temporality, in their capability, as they say.
That is, in the capacity they have to acquire a certain level.
And really, at that moment, to be able to carry them, to help them,
and at some point, help them to have confidence in themselves and therefore succeed.
Fablab, in fact, is the tool of tomorrow to individuate people.
And we’ll have to take it all.
Here.
Thank you.
(Applause)
”
Be First to Comment