The design of early childhood makerspaces to support positive technological development. Two case studies
| Date | 19 March 2018 |
| Pages | 75-96 |
| Published date | 19 March 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-06-2017-0112 |
| Author | Marina Umaschi Bers,Amanda Strawhacker,Miki Vizner |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Metadata,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
The design of early childhood
makerspaces to support positive
technological development
Two case studies
Marina Umaschi Bers, Amanda Strawhacker and Miki Vizner
Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University,
Medford, Massachusetts, USA
Abstract
Purpose –With the advent of the maker movement, there has been a new push to explore how spaces of
learning ought to be designed. The purpose of this paper is to integrate three approaches for thinking about
the role of design of the learning environment: the makerspace movement, Reggio Emilia’s Third Teacher
approach, and the positive technological development (PTD) framework.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper describes two case studies that involved the design of two
different early childhood makerspaces (ECMSs) through a co-participatory design experience: the
Kindergarten Creator Space at the International School of Billund in Denmark; and the ECMS at (removed
for blind review), a resource library in Medford, MA.
Findings –Based on the foundational education framework of PTD, and ideas from the field of interior
design, this paper describes the design principles of several successful makerspaces, and case examples of
children who use them.
Originality/value –By grounding the theoretical discussion in three approaches, the authors aim to suggest
design elements of physical spaces in schools and libraries that can promote young children’s learning
through making. Recommendations are discussed for practitioners and researchers interested in ECMSs.
Keywords Design and development, Case studies, Denmark, Makerspaces, Early childhood education,
Positive technological development
Paper type Case study
Theoretical foundations
This section will present three foundations for designing makerspaces for early childhood
education: the makerspace movement, Reggio Emilia’s Third Teacher approach, and the
positive technological development (PTD) framework.
The maker movement
The educational maker movement is a grassroots global culture shift toward physical,
interactive, and design-based learning models that include, but are not limited to, the use of
novel technologies (Blikstein, 2013). Makerspaces, which are designed to foster a “process of
inspiration, creativity, frustration, and breakthrough”(Petrich et al., 2013, p. 56), are growing
in popularity across the USA (Deloitte and Maker Media, 2014) and the world (Burke, 2014;
Chang et al., 2015).Within this approach, the concept of“making”emphasizes the learners as
makers of their own projects by experimenting with “powerful ideas, tools, and literacies”
(Blikstein, 2013, p. 2).
In an educational makerspace you might see children engaged in activities such as
designing a table-top rollercoaster, building light-up sculptures using LED-lights and play
doh, or creating a pinballmachine out of recyclable materials (Blikstein, 2013; Thomas, 2013;
Vossoughi et al., 2013). The maker movement has rapidly gained national and international
attention. For example, in the USA, the White Househas instituted an annual National Week
of Making, and worldwide Maker Faires have hostedover 1.4 million attendees (Deloitte and
Maker Media, 2014; Maker Media, 2017).
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 36 No. 1, 2018
pp. 75-96
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-06-2017-0112
Received 13 June 2017
Revised 2 October 2017
Accepted 2 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
75
Positive
technological
development
Often when people refer to makerspaces, they are actually thinking of the fabrication and
high-tech tools within them (Meehan et al., 2014). However, the project-based learning and
community building activities that these spaces foster are critical to the essence of the space.
Peer-supported making and tinkering activities have been shown to have a positive
effect on youth because of the potential for “feedback-in-practice,”which contributes to deep
and transformative learning (DiGiacomo and Gutiérrez, 2016). These learning experiences,
which leverage distributed knowledge, collaborative design processes, and constructionist
“learning-by-making”pedagogies, may be particularly relevant for learners with historically
marginalized identities, who are typically not provided access to mainstream entry points to
STEM education, or for learners who thrive with idiosyncratic practices that allow for
personal motivation to drive learning (Azevedo, 2011; Honey and Kanter, 2013; Martin et al.,
2014; Papert and Harel, 1991; Vossoughi et al., 2013).
The maker educational environment is characterized by a blend of project-based
pedagogical practices alongside informal “ways of seeing, valuing, thinking, and doing found
in participatory cultures,”which contributesto participant reports of makerspaces “feeling like
a family or a group of friends”(Sheridanet al., 2014, pp. 527-528). All of these cultural elements
contribute to young makers who develop cognition, character, and social skills, as well as
technical and professional attitudes (Agency by Design, 2015). By intentionally designing an
environment rich with technologies, tools, resources, and community values, makerspaces can
provide makers with opportunities to develop identities as individuals and community
members, uniquely poised to engage with and impact their world. In the early childhood
context, the Reggio Emilia approach has long focused on these issues.
Reggio Emilia and the Third Teacher approach
The maker movement pays special attention to the social practices, technology use, and
peer-mentorship that characterizes a collaborative project-based learning environment,
in addition to studying the kinds of tools and technologies that are needed to include in the
space itself. This approach is consistent with the emphasis in early childhood education on
promoting social learning (and not only academic skills) through designing the classroom
environment as a “third teacher.”Loris Malaguzzi coined the concept of the environment as
a“third teacher”to capture the profound role that he believed environment plays in
children’s development, along with the “first”teachers, the child’s caregivers, and the
“second”teachers, the classroom educators (Biermeier, 2015).
Malaguzzi was the founder of the influential Reggio Emilia approach, a pedagogical
framework for municipal preschools, which emerged shortly after the Second World War in
war-torn Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Reggio approach is rooted in a deep respect for all
community members, including very young children, and recognizes children’s competency
and contribution to the community (Gandini, 2011). The physical Reggio space is distinctive
in its focus on natural materials, beautiful colors and textures, and loose, open-ended
materials (2011). Reggio positions classroom educators as “researchers alongside the
children”(Gandini, 2011, p. 3), who must actively listen and follow the interests of the
children in order to structure curricular activities, rather than relying on a predetermined
standardized lesson plan (Biermeier, 2015). In this way, the learning environment and its
constantly evolving “provocations,”(Biermeier, 2015, p. 74) or material offerings, provide
the children a renewable source of collaborative investigation.
The Reggio Emilia approach and the maker movement share a similar philosophy and
provide a foundation for understanding how a learning environment can be set up to
improve and support an authentic teaching and learning process. The research presented in
this paper, which focuses on early childhood makerspaces (ECMS), is grounded in this work
and also integrates a third line of research: PTD, which provides guidelines for the kind of
learning experiences children can have in the space.
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