Makerspace in school: Considerations from a large-scale national testbed

Journal article, 2018

Digital fabrication and making has received a growing interest in formal and informal learning environments. However, many of these initiatives often start from a grassroots perspective, with little coordination on a national level. This paper illustrates and discusses a study from an ongoing large-scale national testbed in Sweden named Makerspace in schools (Makerskola). The project embodies a series of considerations that arise when a maker approach is applied to a geographically widespread national education context. The results of this study are based on an analysis of the extensive project documentation and first-hand experiences from initiating and running a large-scale national testbed in Sweden, involving more than 30 formal actors and more than one thousand active partners in a national educational setting. The main contribution of this paper is the identification and discussion of five different considerations that have emerged during the project, and include Procurement practices, The teacher and leader perspective, Informing national policy making, Creating equal opportunities, and Progression in digital fabrication.