Karkhana

Based in Kathmandu, Nepal, Karkhana is an education company and makerspace with a unique approach to learning. It seeks to introduce more hands-on and project-based learning into the traditional education system across South Asia.

Karkhana is looking for experienced science teachers to help improve its science kits, lesson plans, and teacher development modules. Science teachers with experience working with upper elementary and/or middle school are especially welcome. Some experience working in the developing world is a bonus, but not necessary.

Karkhana currently works with approximately 50 schools across the Kathmandu Valley and is expanding to 3 new towns this year. So your efforts will reach and benefit many families and schools.

Karkhana would like to find volunteers who are willing to spend a minimum of two weeks. They can provide accommodation in Kathmandu for a short period. For longer term support, such as an entire summer, they can also subsidize some travel costs. They can also help long-term volunteers identify and apply for grant opportunities.

Unlike some volunteer opportunities, this one responds to a specific, clearly-identified need. It also offers a vibrant work environment, which can be a learning opportunity for anyone. I’ll be working with Karkhana myself this winter.

Please contact Karkhana directly info@karkhana.asia if you’re interested. I can also answer some basic questions about it and this opportunity.

Karkhana, which means “factory” in Nepali, is a place where people make things and learn through doing.

The teachers are engineers, designers, artists, and scientists, but in contrast to some traditional models of learning, the environment is a teacher as well. The Karkhana site is filled with marvels: home-built antennas, a laser cutter, colorful child-designed posters, musical instruments, and more, which make the visitor ask questions and want to touch and make things.

So, it’s an education company and makerspace, one that turns the classroom into a lab for discovery. There’s an excellent slide show with many photos explaining their approach and an overview brochure describing the variety of classes they run.

Karkhana works directly with learners ages 8-14 through an after-school program. They also do teacher professional development. I’ve been fortunate to participate in both of these.

There were several good things I noticed beyond the general idea of learning through hands-on inquiry. One was an interesting mix of design though felt pen and whiteboard (or more precisely, whitetable), through physical construction, and with the aid of computers. The point was not to let the medium control the activity, but to let each medium offer affordances that could further the goal–planning a school fair, designing instruments for use on a space station, or building a musical instrument.

Another was the concern for making the Karkhana approach accessible to the ordinary school and ordinary teacher. In addition to workshops for teachers, Karkhana develops a special technology: ziplock bags filled with simple, low-cost materials that can be used in a low-tech, minimal skill situation.

Karkhana already makes new kind of learning available to many children and adults. But it also stands as an example of what could be done someday in Nepali schools, or for that matter, schools anywhere.