AW #131.pdf - Karatunov.net

Proof thatworking
with your hands is
good foryour mind
Under the basketball court, in the basement of
the 80 year old Armory building on the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus,
is a wood and metal working shop known as the
MIT Hobby Shop. It's humble location belies the
shop's important mission: To provide MIT's science
and engineering students-some of the world's best
young minds-a place to work with their hands and
learn by doing. Learning by doing is a fundamental
principle of MIT's educational approach and the
Hobby Shop helps carry out this mission by providing
space, machines and instruction to any student
28 AmericanWoodworker ocroBER2ooT
MIT Hoaey SHop
who wishes to take advantage of the facility. Students
can pursue any project, whether for a class or personal
use (see "The Challenge", page 30). Hobby
Shop students have produced everything from
cedar-strip canoes to dorm furniture to robots.
The instructors play an important role. MIT alumnus
Ken Stone, the current Shop Director, is an
accomplished furniture designer and builder
(photo, above). Hayami Arakawa is an expert wood
turner who also loves imaginative woodworking
(bottom photo, page 32). Ken and Hayami offer students
formal classes in machine use and building as
well as individual instruction.
MIT has endorsed and supported the Hobby
Shop for 70 years, an indication of the value this
venerable institution places on hands-on learning,
and that working with your hands is also good for
your mind. Read more about the MIT Hobby Shop
at www.americanwoodworker. com,/MIThobbyshop.
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