Taking a Practice-Oriented Approach to Integrated Making: Cultivating Multimodal Literacies and Practices Beyond Contemporary Technologies

• In Event: Making the Future: Addressing Critiques, Transitions, and New Challenges in Maker Education

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives: This work builds from a multi-year, design-based research project that purposefully integrates different maker activities and technologies (e.g., Authors, 2015; 2017; 2018; 2019), and related work on equitable and inclusive making (e.g., Buechley, et al, 2008; Richard, et al, 2015). The project is not tool dependent, and instead utilizes emerging technologies to invite diverse interests (e.g., sewing, coding, game design), and promote diverse applications of computing (e.g., wearables, project management). It further scaffolds the practices and opportunities offered through these technologies by encouraging learners to work collaboratively to design integrated, multimodal systems that are simultaneously digitally and physically responsive.
The purpose of this poster is to address areas of concern around the sustainability of maker activities through a focus on meaningful practice. We discuss the bidirectionally responsive design (BRD) curriculum (Authors, 2015; 2017; 2018; 2019), and its iterations as a model for encouraging a practice-oriented approach, by (1) purposefully integrating different and emerging maker tools, (2) scaffolding practices relevant to computer science, engineering, UX design, project management, and crafting, and (3) encouraging meaningful collaboration of distributed skills and interests.
Methods: We used microanalytic techniques (Engle, Conant & Greeno, 2007) to identify cases from 2 of the 6 curriculum iterations. Both were conducted with urban and rural high school youth from high-poverty, low-resourced school districts. The 2018 iteration utilized many elements of the original curriculum, including the Lilypad Arduino, to teach about circuitry and electronic textiles, Scratch, as the coding and UX design platform, and the MakeyMakey as a physical computing interface. The 2019 iteration shifted to using the Circuit Playground Express (CPE), a newer sewable microcontroller, which has integrated components (sensors and LEDs), allowing for rapid prototyping, a block-based coding environment similar to Scratch, and extensions that allow learners to easily create physical computing connections, eliminating the need for the MakeyMakey, which added unnecessary complexity.
Results and Significance: The 2018 case features Javier and Kenneth working on creating their final integrated system. They meet challenges related to rapidly prototyping their final design due to having to alligator clip, code, then sew on their LEDs with the Lilypad Arduino. While they conceptually are able to articulate their understanding of BRD, time constraints related to prototyping introduce frustrations that make it difficult to keep them on task. On the other hand, Clara and Ileana, in the 2019 case, are better able to stay on task as they test out their final project with the CPE, which also frees up time to distribute the activities and refine their UX design and coding in Scratch. However, CPE was found to limit some of their conceptual understanding, since the extensions oversimplified the coding and circuit design process.
Findings highlight how encouraging learners to understand the practices around and applicability of different tools and technologies allows for greater flexible expertise, which is more authentic as newer technologies emerge. However, future work will explore how different tools may oversimplify concepts that may need to be reinforced for greater understanding and adaptability.

Authors

• Gabriela T. Richard, The Pennsylvania State University

• Sagun Giri, The Pennsylvania State University