BackgroundDesign-based learning and makerspace programs have been shown to be effective in increasing student motivation for STEM learning. Since these programs have largely been implemented for middle school and older students, less is known about their motivational implications in elementary school contexts. The purpose of this study was to understand how elementary school students’ (grades 3–6) self-efficacy changed throughout the semester of a design-based makerspace course, and how these changes are associated with experiences of positive and negative achievement emotions. Additionally, this study investigated how self-efficacy and achievement emotions are related to students’ interest development in the makerspace course.ResultsResults of hierarchical growth modeling showed that although students’ self-efficacy and situational interest remained moderately high during the course, both declined over the makerspace semester. Further, self-efficacy, as well as experiences of excitement and frustration with project tasks were found to be associated with students’ situational interest. Interpretive analysis of student think-aloud interviews and classroom observations supported these findings. ConclusionsDesign-based makerspaces have the potential to trigger elementary school students’ interest in STEM activities. However, the iterative design process can lead to suboptimal outcomes on students’ self-efficacy and interest. Instructors should offer context-sensitive efficacy- and emotion-related scaffolds to foster positive makerspace experiences.

This review examines the past 25 years of empirical research on social justice in teacher education, focusing on the question of how researchers in the field, who demonstrate a long-standing aspirational commitment to preparing new teachers for diversity and equity, address students’ and teacher candidates’ multiple social markers of identity, and in particular the complexity of their identities. Using the framework of intersectionality, we illustrate how teacher education researchers position student and teacher candidate identities and their complexity. Findings indicate that identity is typically addressed in a unidimensional manner, with little acknowledgment of students’ or teacher candidates’ complex, multiple, and intersecting identities. We conclude our analysis by exploring the potential of intersectionality as a framework for identity considerations when preparing equity-minded new teachers who are committed to social justice.

Although disability is assumed to be part of the teacher education social justice landscape, its position in the context of social justice is contested and has not been informed by an analysis of the empirical record. To address this gap, we examined 25 years of research on social justice in teacher education, focusing on how disability is presented in relationship to other social markers of identity. Disability is only modestly visible within this literature; when included, it is typically treated as an isolated marker of identity, absent considerations of intersectionality. Overcoming this marginalization of disability requires new, robust cross-faculty alliances in conceptualizing research on social justice in teacher education; adopting discursive practices that complicate disability in terms of its intersectional, reciprocal relationship with the full range of social markers of identity; and intersectionality-driven instruction connecting multiple identities and the multiple instructional strategies required to transform teacher education for social justice.

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