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.

Making

Digital fabrication

Education

Author

Eva Eriksson

Aarhus University

Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Interaction design

Carl Heath

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Peter Ljungstrand

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Peter Parnes

Luleå University of Technology

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

2212-8689 (ISSN)

Vol. 16 9-15

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Computer and Information Science

Human Computer Interaction

Roots

Basic sciences

Learning and teaching

Pedagogical work

DOI

10.1016/j.ijcci.2017.10.001

More information

Latest update

3/21/2023