An official website of the United States government
Abstract University makerspaces have been touted as a possible avenue for improving student learning, engagement, retention, and creativity. As their popularity has increased worldwide, so has the amount of research investigating their establishment, management, and uses. There have, however, been very few studies that use empirical data to evaluate how these spaces are impacting the people using them. This study of three university makerspaces measures engineering design (ED) self-efficacy and how it is correlated with involvement in the makerspaces, along with student demographics. The three university makerspaces include a relatively new makerspace at a Hispanic-serving university in the southwestern US, makerspaces at an eastern liberal arts university with an engineering program that has been created within the last decade, and a makerspace at a large, research university in the southeast often considered to be one of the top programs in the US. Students at all three universities are surveyed to determine their involvement in their university's makerspace and how they perceive their own abilities in engineering design. The findings presented in this paper show a positive correlation between engineering design self-efficacy (EDSE) and involvement in academic makerspaces. Correlations are also seen between certain demographic factors and the percentage of students who choose to use the academic makerspace available to them. These findings provide crucial empirical evidence to the community on the self-efficacy of students who use makerspaces and provide support for universities to continue making these spaces available to their students.
more »
« less
Makerspace Participation: Which Students Return and Why?
Makerspaces are becoming increasingly common facilities in engineering departments and universities across the country. Facility stakeholders, including students, professors, and university administration, hold many assumptions about the benefits and importance of the spaces, but little research has been done to quantify student usage and to evaluate participation within these spaces. This is especially important to understand given the interdisciplinary and multipurpose nature of these facilities. In this paper, we seek to understand which undergraduate engineering students use the Makerspace and what factors influence their likelihood to return. In partnership with a Makerspace at a large, public institution in the Southwest, we analyzed nearly 29,500 sign-in entries from 4,230 unique participants. Log-in information from these students included an open-ended response to their reason for visiting the facility, which was coded into five categories. We provide descriptives by major of the students, who visited the Makerspace within a two-year period, as well as results of chi-square analyses to determine differences in use of the Makerspace and results of logistic regression to determine the probability of students’ return. Analysis of this data begins to uncover the ways in which undergraduate students engage with Makerspaces and illuminates differences in behavior between majors. Further research should investigate the reasons behind these patterns and possible barriers to entry.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1636449
- PAR ID:
- 10100971
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Tampa, FL
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
null (Ed.)We detail an exploratory study of faculty members’ perceptions of activities associated with undergraduate engineering programs in university-based makerspaces. Our study examines the affordances and constraints faculty perceive regarding teaching and learning in these spaces and, specifically, how makerspaces support engineering faculty members in accomplishing the goals and expectations they have for undergraduate students’ learning and development. We found that makerspaces inspired faculty members’ curricular and instructional innovations, including design of new courses and implementation of practices meant to result in more team-based and active learning. Faculty perceived student activities in makerspaces as fostering of student agency and development of engineering skills, knowledge, and affect. Faculty also identified concerns related to the teaching of engineering in these spaces, including the need to change their instructional practices to more fully engage students and to balance the sophisticated tools and resources with the rigor of completing complex engineering tasks. We use structuration theory to illuminate how faculty act, rationalize, and reflect on their teaching practices and goals in relation to structures present in university-based makerspace. Our study is intended to inform faculty and administrators working to engage students through interactions in makerspaces or similar innovations, and to consider how access to and impact of these structures support undergraduate engineering education.more » « less
-
We detail an exploratory study of faculty members’ perceptions of activities associated with undergraduate engineering programs in university-based makerspaces. Our study examines the affordances and constraints faculty perceive regarding teaching and learning in these spaces and, specifically, how makerspaces support engineering faculty members in accomplishing the goals and expectations they have for undergraduate students’ learning and development. We found that makerspaces inspired faculty members’ curricular and instructional innovations, including design of new courses and implementation of practices meant to result in more team-based and active learning. Faculty perceived student activities in makerspaces as fostering of student agency and development of engineering skills, knowledge, and affect. Faculty also identified concerns related to the teaching of engineering in these spaces, including the need to change their instructional practices to more fully engage students and to balance the sophisticated tools and resources with the rigor of completing complex engineering tasks. We use structuration theory to illuminate how faculty act, rationalize, and reflect on their teaching practices and goals in relation to structures present in university-based makerspace. Our study is intended to inform faculty and administrators working to engage students through interactions in makerspaces or similar innovations, and to consider how access to and impact of these structures support undergraduate engineering education.more » « less
-
Makerspaces have the potential to revolutionize engineering education by providing a platform for students to nurture their tacit knowledge. This unique space allows for students to work with advanced prototyping equipment, develop specialized skills and create community. Although makerspaces could become an important dimension of engineering education, it is unclear whether these spaces are inclusive for all engineering students, especially those from underrepresented groups. Specifically, this study aims to understand the experiences of diverse female engineering students in makerspaces. For this study, we analyzed interview transcripts of ten women from multiple U.S. universities housing engineering academic makerspaces—those anchored to and supported by the engineering department/school specifically—and found common themes across their stories. These themes include the perception of gender bias, as well as an intimidating, hostile, and non-inclusive environment. Although the results of this study demonstrate gender bias and marginalization occur in makerspaces, female engineering students still find value in the makerspace through access to resources, opportunities to learn, increased confidence, and female makerspace staff.more » « less
-
Makerspaces have become a rather common structure within engineering education programs. The spaces are used in a wide range of configurations but are typically intended to facilitate student collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, essentially giving students the opportunity to learn 21st century skills and develop deeper understanding of the processes of engineering. Makerspace structure, layout, and use has been fairly well researched, yet the impact of makerspaces on student learning is understudied, somewhat per a lack of tools to measure student learning in these spaces. We developed a survey tool to assess undergraduate engineering students’ perceptions and learning in makerspaces, considering levels of students’ motivation, professional identity, engineering knowledge, and belongingness in the context of makerspaces. Our survey consists of multiple positively-phrased (supporting a condition) and some negatively-phrased (refuting a condition) survey items correlated to each of our four constructs. Our final survey contained 60 selected response items including demographic data. We vetted the instrument with an advisory panel for an additional level of validation and piloted the survey with undergraduate engineering students at two universities collecting completed responses from 196 participants. Our reliability analysis and additional statistical calculations revealed our tool was statistically sound and was effectively gathering the data we designed the instrument to measure.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- The DOI is not currently available.
