Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools
Makerspaces persist as formal and informal spaces of learning for youth, promoting continued interest in studying how design can support the variety of learning opportunities within these spaces. However, much of the current research examining learning in makerspaces neglects the perspectives of edu...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer US
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153158 |
| _version_ | 1826216126587076608 |
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| author | Turakhia, Dishita Ludgin, David Mueller, Stefanie Desportes, Kayla |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Turakhia, Dishita Ludgin, David Mueller, Stefanie Desportes, Kayla |
| author_sort | Turakhia, Dishita |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Makerspaces persist as formal and informal spaces of learning for youth, promoting continued interest in studying how design can support the variety of learning opportunities within these spaces. However, much of the current research examining learning in makerspaces neglects the perspectives of educators. This not only hinders our understanding of educators’ goals and how educators navigate makerspaces but also constrains how we frame the design space of the learning experiences and environments. To address this, we engaged in a set of semi-structured interviews to examine the contexts, goals, values, and practices of seven educators across five makerspaces. A thematic analysis of the data identified six key categories of competencies that these educators prioritize including a range of skills, practices, and knowledge, such as technical proficiency, communication, and contextual reflection. The analysis also identified five categories of strategies to accomplish certain goals, such as scaffolding, collaboration, and relationship building. Last, it also shed light on three categories of challenges faced at the student-level, teacher-level, and institutional level. We conclude with a discussion on our insights into how we can broaden the problem space in the design of educational technologies to support learning in makerspaces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:42:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/153158 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:42:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Springer US |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1531582024-01-24T21:48:03Z Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools Turakhia, Dishita Ludgin, David Mueller, Stefanie Desportes, Kayla Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Makerspaces persist as formal and informal spaces of learning for youth, promoting continued interest in studying how design can support the variety of learning opportunities within these spaces. However, much of the current research examining learning in makerspaces neglects the perspectives of educators. This not only hinders our understanding of educators’ goals and how educators navigate makerspaces but also constrains how we frame the design space of the learning experiences and environments. To address this, we engaged in a set of semi-structured interviews to examine the contexts, goals, values, and practices of seven educators across five makerspaces. A thematic analysis of the data identified six key categories of competencies that these educators prioritize including a range of skills, practices, and knowledge, such as technical proficiency, communication, and contextual reflection. The analysis also identified five categories of strategies to accomplish certain goals, such as scaffolding, collaboration, and relationship building. Last, it also shed light on three categories of challenges faced at the student-level, teacher-level, and institutional level. We conclude with a discussion on our insights into how we can broaden the problem space in the design of educational technologies to support learning in makerspaces. 2023-12-14T15:32:39Z 2023-12-14T15:32:39Z 2023-11-27 2023-12-03T04:10:09Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153158 Turakhia, Dishita, Ludgin, David, Mueller, Stefanie and Desportes, Kayla. 2023. "Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools." PUBLISHER_CC en https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10305-1 Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s) application/pdf Springer US Springer US |
| spellingShingle | Turakhia, Dishita Ludgin, David Mueller, Stefanie Desportes, Kayla Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| title | Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| title_full | Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| title_fullStr | Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| title_short | Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| title_sort | understanding the educators practices in makerspaces for the design of education tools |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153158 |
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