Purpose This paper aims to introduce and explores the use of electrodermal activity (EDA) data as a tool for obtaining data about youth engagement during maker learning activities. Design/methodology/approach EDA and survey data were collected from a yearlong afterschool maker program for teens that met weekly and was hosted at a children’s museum. Data from four youth who were simultaneously present for eight weeks were examined to ascertain what experiences and activities were more or less engaging for them, based on psychophysiological measures. Findings Most of the focal youth appeared to show higher levels of engagement by survey measures throughout the program. However, when examined by smaller time intervals, certain activities appeared to be more engaging. Planning of maker activities was one space where engagement was higher. Completing sewing projects with minimal social interaction appeared to be less engaging. Specific activities involving common maker technologies yielded mixed levels of engagement. Originality/value Some research is emerging that uses EDA data as a basis for generating inferences about various states while participating in maker learning activities. This paper provides a novel analysis building on some techniques established in the still emergent body of prior research in this area.
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Using Retrospective Surveys to Assess the Impact of Participating in an Afterschool Maker Learning Program on Youth
As the number of afterschool technology-rich maker learning programs for youth increases, it is important to investigate effective assessment tools that can be used to assess program impact at scale. We studied results from a series of surveys using two deployment modes with 94 youth who participated in programs at an afterschool maker learning center. We found that retrospective surveys that ask youth to reflect on shifts in their attitudes after completing a program are more effective than the same surveys deployed twice, pre- and post- a program. These results confirm input from youth interviews in which they expressed dislike of repeating the same surveys before and after a program and difficulty with answering self-assessment questions without a point of reference.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1723610
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10202306
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
- ISSN:
- 1524-4644
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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