Nerds and Artsy-Fartsies Unite! Applying a Maker's Lens to K–12 Computer Education

• In Event: Structured Poster Session: Analytical Frameworks to Advance the Study of Making: Themes in Research and Development on Makerspaces

Abstract

1. Objectives or purposes
Creating is the common element that connects the maker movement and the recent emphasis on coding as part of the K-12 curriculum. However, the current focus on teaching coding in schools often portrays computer programming as the only valid career option. This neglects students who aren’t drawn to coding, leaving them thinking that our technological society has no place for their unique talents, skills, and passions.

2. Perspective
A maker can be “anyone who builds or adapts objects by hand, often with the simple pleasure of figuring out how things work, creating an aesthetic object, or seeking to solve an everyday problem” (Peppler, Halverson, & Kafai, 2016, pg. 2). In other words, to be a maker one must make something. Similarly to be a coder, one must create code. Schools focus on the premise “that by learning to think like a computer scientist, students can solve everyday problems, design systems that we all use in daily life, and progress and innovate in other discipline” (Kafai & Burke, 2014, p. 4). While some researchers are often able to see the connection between making, coding, and computer programming (Halverson & Sheridan, 2014), the broader conversation often reflects a potential rift in popular press between the maker movement (Artsy-Fartsies) and the coding-for-all movement (Nerds).

3. Methods
Over three weeks, researchers engaged in design activities with third and fourth grade students at a private school in the Midwest United States as they worked in teams to design a mobile application that met a student-identified need. The ADDIE framework guided the process:
Analyze – Teams envisioned their potential audience and identified needs for their potential app.
Design – Students worked in teams to create and document a detailed plan for the mobile app.
Develop – Teams created a working prototype of their mobile app using MIT APP Inventor (http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/).
Implement - Teams completed the app, tested it, and shared with classmates for usability testing.
Evaluate – Teams collected data: observing people using their app and designing a brief opinion survey.

4. Data sources
Data included surveys, observations, video recording of all sessions, and collection of student-created artifacts. A pre- post-survey measured self-perception of abilities to work with computers and future careers.

5. Results
Students contributed to the design of a mobile application, highlighting the diverse range of skills, such as coding, drawing, writing, or communicating orally, needed to produce a “high tech” product.

6. Significance of the work
Pappert (1980) argued for the transference of skills from programming to literacies and math. Our research aim was not to minimize the importance of coding but rather to argue against the emerging perspective that the only path for students is to be a coder. The instructional design process can engage children in meaningful ways while still making a place for a wide variety of skills and interests.

Authors

• Tutaleni I. Asino, Oklahoma State University

• Penny Marie Thompson, Oklahoma State University

• kathy essmiller, Oklahoma State University - Stillwater