Making MacGyvers: lessons from a decade of maker education

Regular visitors of the EGU General Assembly are familiar with the ‘MacGyver’ sessions where hydrologists present measuring solution they have designed, build and tinkered (often ducttaped) themselves. We often get asked how we convey the MacGyver mentality to our students: how to teach them the skills and attitude to tackle their own problems hands on?

We teach this in the undergraduate course ‘measuring water’. In this course the learning goals include teaching hydrology students how to measure the different states and fluxes in the water cycle. We approach this by having teams of students design, make and demonstrate their own sensor. This ‘maker-education’ approach is known for stimulating intrinsic motivation in students to work on their projects, but it also comes with its own challenges: how to make sure that all students learn about all different types of sensors and not only about the one they choose? How to steer students towards choosing a project topic that is both challenging enough and not too challenging, without giving them the idea you are curbing their freedom to choose their own topic?

In this presentation we will reflect on lessons learned from a decade of teaching ‘Measuring Water’ and provide take-aways applicable for all geoscientific teaching.