Empowering Educators and Students with Agency by Design Oakland

By Andrea Smith, Program and Communications Associate, and Savannah Lira, Program Manager

Agency by Design Oakland (AbDO) provides professional development for educators to cultivate their agency so that their students experience joyful and deep learning and become independent problem solvers. Grown out of Project Zero’s Agency by Design research project based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Oakland leadership team decided to launch Agency by Design Oakland with PVF in 2019, noting the equity-focus of maker-centered learning and the transformative power of inquiry based professional development.

PVF staff attended AbDO’s most recent Maker Meet-Up held as part of their See It Series. These short, single session workshops allow educators to get a taste of some aspects of the Agency by Design framework with a focus on building connections along with emergent topics that are relevant at the moment.

We learned how to make paper circuits, a fun project that can be taught and done with students using copper tape, batteries, and LEDs to create designs that have working lights in them and teach the basics of electricity and how circuits function.

Educators who attended walked away with ideas and strategies for implementing this project in their own classrooms, giving students a tangible and interactive way to explore fundamental concepts in science and technology.

At AbDO, the mission is to cultivate a community of educators who empower students to think critically, experiment freely, and solve problems independently. It’s a dynamic, inquiry-based approach to teaching that brings joy and discovery into the classroom while providing educators with the tools and knowledge they need to nurture this kind of learning.

By supporting and growing these opportunities, AbDO is helping shape the future of education—one that values curiosity and the transformative potential of hands-on learning.