Making Meaning of Making: Using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory to Understand Digital Fabrication in the Classroom

• In Event: Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Discipline-Based Research in Computing and Robotics

Abstract

This study uses Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to make meaning of a digital fabrication project situated in the complexity of a classroom. Using an ethnographic perspective, we observed 11 students (aged 13-14) in a middle school’s Creative Design and Engineering (CDE) class. Students were tasked with fabricating a prosthetic bone for use as a movie prop. Teacher interviews and student focus groups revealed different rules and conventions between traditional science class and CDE. Specifically, students referred to “experiment” as a verb in CDE (but a noun in science), and considered learning in CDE as inherently memorable (compared to having to memorize in science). Students had different reactions to failure, with some considering it “messing up,” and others “building on.”

Authors

• Alexandria Killian Hansen, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Jasmine Kyle McBeath, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Danielle Boyd Harlow, University of California - Santa Barbara