Prototyping a designerly learning through authentic making activities in elementary classrooms

During six months in a French elementary classroom with pupils aged 6-7 years old, we have looked for ways to progressively transform an instructional classroom environment. Our aim was to develop a sustainable designerly learning through authentic making activities. In this article, we describe the history of this attempt along with our motivations, with an instrumental approach, i.e., through a description of the activities mediated by the artifacts we have prototyped with the schoolteacher and the pupils. First, we explain what we mean by designerly learning, which refers to making activities with a Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) perspective, extending the focus of making beyond digital literacy and digital fabrication. Then, we describe our prototypes: a series of artifacts, which sets conditions for pupils to engage in classroom's making activities, and for the teacher to facilitate them. Finally, we discuss how such conditions can help scaffold and structure authentic making activities in a classroom context, and therefore designing these conditions might be a prime means to foster a transition toward a designerly learning in public schools.