Assessing the Effectiveness of an Integrated Maker Curriculum on Promoting Design Thinking Skills

• In Event: Pre-K–8–Focused Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Making is a class of activities that engages people through designing, building, modifying, and repurposing for playful or useful ends, such as a product that can be used in real life. In response to the growing trend towards maker education, we investigated the design and implementation of a maker curriculum in a secondary school in Hong Kong, and assessed the integrated curriculum's effectiveness on enhancing students' design thinking skills and motivation. The research involved two classes (n=66) of the participating school. The finding provides empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of the integrated maker curriculum on enhancing design thinking skills, and identifies the aspects which need special attention in future maker courses.

Authors

• Biyun Huang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Morris S.Y. Jong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong