Scaling Informal Technology Education through Maker Spaces

Abstract

Maker education models provide multiple points of entry for youth to gain exposure, interest, and skill-building in high-growth technology skills. Research has shown that maker-based programs can engage underrepresented audiences, including minorities and females, in technology career pathways. While maker education principles and approaches have transformative potential across both formal and informal learning environments, the agility and flexibility of informal learning environments like afterschool programs, make them especially amenable to the iterative, experimental, ethos of making and provide the needed flexibility to experiment with systemic changes to youth-centered learning approaches. Resources and guides on how to establish and run a makerspace are increasingly becoming available; however, research is needed to understand what are effective ways to create these resources and how to best support educators who want to create and run maker learning programs for the first time.

In this NSF-funded project (Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings division), we are studying how to expand maker-based educational programs across three different sites. We used three professional development models, comprising of (1) online training, (2) face-to-face training at the site, and (3) face-to-face remote training. During the trainings, we worked with educators who had not delivered a maker-based program to design their space, familiarize them with maker concepts and technologies, and train them in an established maker curriculum. Results to date show that a hybrid online and face-to-face training offers the most promising approach and that building in flexibility and customizability in the curriculum may increase educator and youth engagement.