Facilitation Moves in an Elementary School Makerspace

• In Event: Facilitation of Maker-Centered Learning in Formal and Informal Spaces

Abstract

This case study examines the practices of an experienced, highly-regarded makerspace teacher in a public elementary school as they balance constraints and stakeholder expectations to facilitate maker-centered learning for all students who enter the makerspace.

In-school makerspaces face an ongoing tension between the informal, exploratory nature of the maker movement and the formal, often assessment- or standards-led nature of schools (Campos et al., 2019; Looney, 2023; Pitkänen et al., 2020; Walan & Gericke, 2022). Vossoughi and Bevan (2014) identified that in much research pertaining to makerspaces, the adults leading the learning in the space are almost always referred to as facilitators rather than teachers, even when the makerspace is in a school. They addressed that by distancing makerspaces and making from teaching and pedagogy, the divide not only deepens, but it positions public education in a negative light. In a separate study, Vossoughi and colleagues (2016) illustrate, through vignettes of a student learning through making, that ignoring the scaffolds and pedagogical moves a teacher makes to support a student glosses over the impact of teachers and creates an unrealistic expectation that a student’s success in making is largely due to the individual.

As part of the ethnographic process, the researcher was embedded in the makerspace for a same span of time in the space every other week for an academic year, following several classes as they engaged in repeat visits to the space, checking in with the teacher on the alternating weeks. The researcher would contemporaneously jot field notes during each visit and follow up with a memo of expanded notes (Emerson et al., 2011). The researcher engaged in regular interviews with the principal and the district STEAM coach, and attended nearly all the STEAM and makerspace related professional development sessions. Interviews and professional development sessions, when permitted, were audio recorded and transcribed using A.I. transcription services and cleaned up by the researcher. The researcher engaged in thematic analysis, regularly reviewing notes and transcripts for patterns (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

This study adds to a limited, but growing, segment of research on in-school makerspaces supporting elementary and middle school grades (Mersand, 2021). While analysis is preliminary, the role of the facilitator appears very pivotal to the success of formal learning activities, as it is for informal or non-formal learning activities (Einarsson & Hertzum, 2019). The facilitator’s success is based on their preparation prior to each activity, the structures they put in place to promote a community of practice with each group of students, and the choices they make when choosing how and when to intervene in a student’s work (Abbas & Koh, 2015; Kajamaa et al., 2020; Pitkänen et al., 2020). Additionally, the use of a stuffed teddy bear as an integral part of the teacher’s course of introducing making to students creates comfort and a memorable aspect of the experience to support engagement and recall (Higgins et al., 2023).

Author

• Robert Daniel Wachtel Pronovost, Stanford University