Teaching & learning in makerspaces: equipping teachers to become justice-oriented maker-educators

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Sara C. Heredia (Creator)
Edna Tan, Assistant Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Making and makerspaces are becoming increasingly popular in K-12 schools. However, professional development on making for practicing teachers is under researched. We present case studies of two teachers’ sensemaking of making in a one semester graduate course on teaching and learning in makerspaces. The course was designed around three course tenets; maker as learner, as iterative, and as equitable and consequential. We utilize third generation cultural historical activity theory to analyze teachers’ course work to understand their sensemaking of course tenets within their school context. We found that teachers made sense of the course content through their lens as a classroom teacher and that teachers surfaced and attempted to work through contradictions related to school routines related to high-stakes assessment and a history of stratifying youth within and across schools. These findings have implications for how we design for teacher professional learning about making and makerspaces.

Additional Information

Publication
The Journal of Educational Research, DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2020.1860871
Language: English
Date: 2021
Keywords
Makerspace, teacher professional learning, K-12 schools

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