Tools, Materials, and Practices: Examining Social Infrastructure in Maker Classrooms

• In Event: Immersive Learning Environments

Abstract

Understanding the infrastructure that supports learning is essential to effective Design-Based Research (DBR), particularly in complex, material-rich environments like maker classrooms. This study investigates the social infrastructure of three Grade 5/6 public school classrooms engaged in maker-centred learning. Drawing on and extending frameworks from Bielaczyc (2006) and Hayden et al. (2023), we identify several unique social infrastructural features in maker classrooms, including power dynamics, shifts in the teacher’s role, socio-material-spatial interactions, and broadened connections to external knowledge. Based on these insights, we propose an expanded framework for social infrastructure that better accounts for the specific dynamics in elementary maker classrooms.

Authors

• Andreina Yulis San Juan, Simon Fraser University

• Zi Lin, Simon Fraser University

• Yumiko Murai, Simon Fraser University