The Maker Movement in Informal Urban Education: An Eco-Pedagogical Critique

• In Event: Creating Spaces for Critical Praxis, Agency, and Empowerment in Formal and Informal Learning Environments

Abstract

Educational research is beginning to emerge on the “maker movement” (e.g., Halverson & Sheridan, 2014; several 2014 AERA papers) - an assemblage of DIY designers and tinkerers with roots in the early computer and Internet movements - yet few studies examine the movement from an ecopedagogical perspective (Kahn, 2010) whereby makers and makerspaces are critically assessed not only in terms of the quality of the teaching and learning that occurs in such spaces, but also the degree to which the collective work among participants might help to address and transform larger systemic injustices that bear down upon and enclose such learning environments. Researchers often highlight the “democratization” of the tools of innovation commonly utilized in makerspaces, such as relatively low cost prototyping equipment and open source software (Blikstein, 2013); however, as a counter-statement to the spirit of technophilia and uncritical promotion of educational technology that often exemplifies makerspaces, I ask: To what degree do urban youth makerspaces: a) fulfill rhetorical claims that they democratically reconstruct education and society and, b) foster social inclusivity through access to digital and material technologies of design and production?

Any reconstruction of education and society must incorporate the situated, lived experiences of its participants, uncover the hidden curriculum (Anyon, 1980) of the dominant educational rhetoric in order to intervene in the social reproduction of unequal relations, and provide space for reflexive processes of humanization and liberation (Freire, 2000). Drawing upon ecopedagogical demands for critical and multiple forms of technoliteracies (Kahn & Kellner, 2014), this research critiques the discourses and practices of the maker movement to assess their liberatory potentials while acknowledging the limits of social reconstruction based solely on educational practices (Shor & Freire, 1987). This poster presents an emerging theoretical framework with empirical data that includes participant observation as the primary method of investigation, including analyses of Web-based archives (blogs, documentation of processes and products) of select urban makerspaces.

With the federal government’s enthusiastic support of the maker movement (White House, 2015); the privileging of STEM-fields over the social sciences and humanities; the continued effects of neoliberalism on educational policy such as public-private partnerships; the rhetorical linkage between public education and participation in the global economy; and the devastating social and environmental effects of consumerism and capitalism, it is imperative for educators and researchers to pose critical inquiries into emergent technologies of production.

The theoretical contribution of this research is significant. Building upon established educational theories of progressivism (Dewey, 2007), constructivism (Kincheloe, 2008), and constructionism (Harel & Papert, 1991) that form the prevailing lenses by which to conceptualize makerspaces, this study will also contribute to the literature on ecopedagogy and other forms of critical pedagogy through an emphasis on understanding how youth become critically aware of issues of urban sustainability in their lived environments through the production of critical technoliteracies. This research also seeks to form alliances with other socio-cultural critiques of technology, such as critical making (Ratto, 2011) or educational “hacking” (Watters, 2015), by highlighting places of tension where interventions may occur towards more democratic ends.

Author

• Jennifer Stoops, The City University of New York