Through a comparative case study, Sheridan and colleagues explore how makerspaces may function as learning environments. Drawing on field observations, interviews, and analysis of artifacts, videos, and other documents, the authors describe features of three makerspaces and how participants learn and develop through complex design and making practices. They describe how the makerspaces help individuals identify problems, build models, learn and apply skills, revise ideas, and share new knowledge with others. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of their findings for this emergent field.

Learning in the Making: A Comparative Case Study of Three Makerspaces.

Background/Context Large gaps in achievement and interest in science and engineering (STEM) persist for youth growing up in poverty, and in particular for African American and Latino youth. Within the informal education community, the recently evolving “maker movement” has sparked interest for its potential role in breaking down longstanding barriers to learning and attainment in STEM, with advocates arguing for its “democratizing effects.” What remains unclear is how minoritized newcomers to a makerspace can access and engage in makerspaces in robust and equitably consequential ways. Purpose This paper describes how and why youth engage in making in an after-school, youth-focused, community-based makerspace program “Making 4 Change.” Four in-depth stories of engagement are shared. Using a mobilities of learning framework, we discuss how youth appropriated and repurposed the process of making, and unpack how the program attempted to value and negotiate youths’ ways of making from an equity-oriented perspective. Research Design Utilizing a two-year critical ethnography, involving 36 youth over two years in two making settings, we assumed roles of both program teachers and researchers. Data collected included field notes, session videos, weekly youth conversation groups, youth created artifacts, and interviews. Analysis was iterative, involving movement between a grounded approach to making sense of our data, and a mobilities of learning framework. Findings Three forms of engagement—critical, connected and collective—supported youths’ sustained and mutual engagement in the makerspace. Across the three, it was essential to balance purposeful playfulness with just-in-time STEM modules, invite a broadening range of identities youth could draw on and perform, and to more critically address the affordances and constraints inherent in a community makerspace. Conclusions From the insights gained, we suggest that framing youths’ experiences through the lens of equitably consequential learning and becoming challenges the field to consider how making—as a practice—is always linked to individual and social histories that unfold across space and time. Who can make and who cannot, whose knowledge matters and whose does not, are all a part of making itself. But such understandings are not without tensions, for the work that youth do, which can invoke nontraditional tools and practices towards nontraditional ends, can be fraught with complexities that youth and adults alike are unprepared to handle. “There are a lot of people who get frostbite in the winter when people are outside. Ours is way cheaper than a regular sweatshirt and way warmer. It will keep you warm and snug. It will have a heater in it, and lights for glamour and fashion.” Emily “Our idea could help change things. People make fun of you. Why are you wearing that? You are ugly. There are stains on your clothes… I was like I am going to give you something beautiful but with casual in it so that you don't expose yourself. Like a jacket that goes all of the way down.” Jennifer

The makerspace movement: Sites of possibilities for equitable opportunities to engage underrepresented youth in STEM

The availability of free and open source hardware designs that can be replicated with low-cost 3-D printers provide large values to scientists that need highly-customized low-volume production scientific equipment. Digital manufacturing technologies have only recently become widespread and the return on investment (ROI) was not clear, so funding for open hardware development was historically sparse. This paper clarifies a method for determining an ROI for FOSH scientific hardware development. By using open source hardware design that can be manufactured digitally the relatively minor development costs result in enormous ROIs for the scientific community. A case study is presented of an syringe pump released under open-licenses, which results in ROIs for funders ranging from 100s to 1,000s of percent after only a few months. It is clear that policies encouraging free and open source scientific hardware development should be made by organizations interested in maximizing return on public investments for science.

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Return on investment for open source scientific hardware development

The maker movement has evoked interest for its role in breaking down barriers to STEM learning. However, few empirical studies document how youth are supported over time in STEM-rich making projects or their outcomes. This longitudinal critical ethnographic study traces the development of 41 youth maker projects in two community-centered making programs. Building a conceptual argument for an equity-oriented culture of making, the authors discuss the ways in which making with and in community opened opportunities for youth to project their communities’ rich culture knowledge and wisdom onto their making while also troubling and negotiating the historicized injustices they experience. The authors also discuss how community engagement legitimized a practice of co-making, which supported equity-oriented goals and outcomes.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0002831218758668

A Longitudinal Study of Equity-Oriented STEM-Rich Making Among Youth From Historically Marginalized Communities

In this paper, we provide an overview of the current efforts in maker education, supported by a review of empirical studies. Our synthesis will inform the community about learning outcomes, potential and common issues, challenges, resources, and future research direction regarding maker education.

Learning through Making and Maker Education

Lessons learned from the grassroots spreading of the “maker movement” can help us reimagine schools and foster a mindset of creativity and innovation in educational settings.

/pdf/maker-movement-spreads-innovation-one-project-at-a-time-4t5xt3ua4s.pdf

Maker Movement Spreads Innovation One Project at a Time

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The maker movement consists of a growing culture of hands-on making, creating, designing, and innovating. A hallmark of the maker movement is its do-it-yourself (or do-it-with-others) mindset that brings together individuals around a range of activities, including textile craft, robotics, cooking, woodcrafts, electronics, digital fabrication, mechanical repair, or creation--in short, making nearly anything. Despite its diversity, the movement is unified by a shared commitment to open exploration, intrinsic interest, and creative ideas. And it's spreading: Online maker communities, physical makerspaces, and Maker Faires are popping up all over the world and continually increasing in size and participation (Dougherty, 2013). Moreover, there is a growing national recognition of the maker movement's potential to transform how and what people learn in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and arts disciplines. As President Obama put it in his remarks on the Educate to Innovate campaign, makers "see the promise of being the makers of things, and not just the consumers of things" (Obama, 2009). This orientation toward personal fabrication rather than blind consumerism is also seen as the foundation for a new, more prosperous economy. "Future economic development and job creation is dependent on our ability to innovate and the maker movement exemplifies the kind of passion and personal motivation that inspires innovation" (New York Hall of Science, 2013). The maker mindset empowers people not just to seek out jobs in STEM or creative fields, but to make their own jobs and industries, depending on their interests and the emerging needs they see in a rapidly changing society (Kalil, 2010). The maker movement is spread by demand at the grassroots level as people come to realize its potential and how engaging it is to make your own stuff. Communities of makers, known as makerspaces, are surfacing in church basements, homes, museums, libraries, schools, summer camps, and online. Each adapts to the local community, is organized a little differently, and attracts different kinds of makers. Democratizing access to professional-grade tools for personal fabrication is enabling makers to make almost anything (Gershenfeld, 2005) and engendering what some are calling a new industrial revolution (Anderson, 2012). The grassroots energy behind this movement can be a model for how to successfully scale and spread future educational innovations across diverse locations and populations. Makers, makerspaces, and their products Housed in a church basement, the Mt. Elliott Makerspace in Detroit infuses a strong community focus into making activities. One of the central goals of this makerspace is to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit in an economically depressed city, enabling members of all ages to address community problems through making. Toward this aim, it has cultivated "concentrations" in transportation, electronics, digital tools, and wearables, and will soon add design and fabrication, food, and arts and music. It's best known for its flagship Earn-a-Bike program, which teaches participants how to build a bike that they then can take home for free. Instead of simply dropping off a bike to be fixed, members of this makerspace work with people to show them how to fix it and expect them to do most of the work. The makerspace supports a range of structured making formats, including long workshops that dive deeply into a particular project or skill; short one- to three-hour workshops introducing maker skills; and open shop time, where members are free to work on whatever they want, with facilitators around for just-in-time mentoring. Targeting younger children, the MAKEShop at Children's Museum of Pittsburgh provides open-ended materials for children to play with and explore. To accommodate a broad array of makers, the museum has created three themed areas of the MAKEShop: Wood Shop, Sew Shop, and Circuit Shop. …

Maker Movement Spreads Innovation One Project at a Time: Lessons Learned from the Grassroots Spreading of the "Maker Movement" Can Help Us Reimagine Schools and Foster a Mindset of Creativity and Innovation in Educational Settings

El aprendizaje conectado explica como las personas pueden construir rutas de aprendizaje conectadas a sus intereses, sus relaciones y al aprendizaje formal que lleven a oportunidades de futuro en una carrera profesional. Sin embargo, la mayoria de los sistemas de aprendizaje no estan disenados para una experiencia de aprendizaje conectado. Por ejemplo, casi todas las escuelas siguen ensenando asignaturas como unidades cerradas que no conectan con los intereses de los alumnos fuera de la escuela. Todavia no sabemos lo suficiente sobre la estructura de los ambientes naturales de aprendizaje conectado que si activan la experiencia de aprendizaje con diferentes contextos y llevan a los alumnos hacia un camino de crecimiento. Aprender mas sobre lo que funciona en estas rutas de aprendizaje nos permitira disenar entornos de aprendizaje conectado para ayudar a mas jovenes a obtener los resultados deseados. El presente trabajo analiza dos casos practicos de «cosplayers» –aficionados que crean sus propios disfraces de personajes ficticios y los llevan a convenciones y eventos– que se beneficiaron de entornos de aprendizaje conectado correctamente desarrollados. Aspectos importantes que surgieron en el estudio incluyen las relaciones con el apoyo y cuidado de y hacia los otros: dos caminos unicos que comienzan con un dificil desafio: las oportunidades economicas derivadas del cosplay y las comparaciones con otras experiencias escolares formales. Todo ello afecta la manera de disenar entornos de aprendizaje conectado que apoyen a todos los alumnos en sus caminos unicos hacia el futuro.

https://www.revistacomunicar.com/pdf/58/c5803es.pdf

Los entornos de aprendizaje conectado como oportunidad emergente mediante el Cosplay

Abstract Objective: This study examines the validity of Amabile’s (1982) consensual assessment technique in measuring creativity in a warm-up activity in fourth-grade drama classrooms and compares the scores between warm-ups occurring in a blackbox theater setting (experimental) vs. a traditional classroom (control). Method: Four professional actors viewed 60 clips of children’s drama warm-ups and scored for creativity, using a 5-point scale. After establishing sufficient inter-rater reliability (IRR), we used the average scores of the raters to compare creativity between the experimental and control groups. Results: The raters demonstrated high agreement, with a coefficient alpha estimate of .819. An independent samples t-test between the experimental and control groups was significant at p < .001, with the experimental group receiving higher scores. Conclusions: The results suggested that creativity was significantly higher in the experimental group, and the context correlated with creativity, despite neither group having yet received drama instruction at that time. This paper presents discussions about validity, opinions of the raters, possible implications for the activity itself, and possible effect of setting on creativity.

Utilizing the Consensual Assessment Technique to Compare Creativity in Drama Spaces

Connected learning explains how people can build learning pathways that connect their interests, relationships with others, and formal learning to lead toward future opportunities. However, most learning systems are not set up ideally for connected learning. This paper analyzes two case studies of cosplayers—hobbyists who make their own costumes of media characters to wear at fan conventions—who benefited from a well-developed connected learning ecology. Cases were drawn from a larger interview study and further analyzed as compelling examples of connected learning. Important themes that emerged included sponsorship by family, friends, and adult mentors; unique pathways that start with a difficult challenge; and comparisons with formal school experiences. This has implications for how we can design connected learning ecologies that support all learners on unique pathways toward fulfilling futures.

Sophia Bender

Papers

Maker Movement Spreads Innovation One Project at a Time

Maker Movement Spreads Innovation One Project at a Time: Lessons Learned from the Grassroots Spreading of the "Maker Movement" Can Help Us Reimagine Schools and Foster a Mindset of Creativity and Innovation in Educational Settings

Los entornos de aprendizaje conectado como oportunidad emergente mediante el Cosplay

Utilizing the Consensual Assessment Technique to Compare Creativity in Drama Spaces

Connected Cosplay: Fan Work as Pathways Toward Opportunity