“I played a song with the help of a magic banana”: assessing short-term making events

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand how learners describe their experiences with short-term, introductory maker experiences and to test a method for assessing learners’ experiences authentic to short-term learning. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected written responses from participants at a two-day event, STEM Center Learning Days. Through an analysis of 707 unique instances of learner responses to participation in drop-in maker activities, they examined how participants describe their short-term learning experiences. Findings The authors found that although some activities appear to onlookers to create passive experiences for learners, these seemingly passive moments have a significant impact on learners. In addition, some learners described themselves as working in tandem with tools to make something work and other learners viewed the tools as working autonomously. They found that the assessment method allowed them to gain an understanding of how learners describe their experiences offering important implications for understanding short-term learning events. Originality/value The findings provide researchers studying short-term learning in its natural setting a new method to understand how learners make sense of their individual experience. Further, designers of short-term learning experiences may gain insights into their unique activities and indications of where additional guidance and scaffolds will improve small learning moments.

Bio-networking among librarians, parents, and children in a modern children’s library: a phenomenological study

“…Many public libraries strive to reinvent themselves as relaxing civic centers , such as vibrant hubs or safe places to relax and provide casual meeting places to socialize by offering cozy lounges and nooks, an appealing atrium ambiance or outdoor greenspace areas. In contrast, other libraries are using their spaces to cultivate creative production , providing things such as knitting clubs, fab labs (digital fabrication laboratories), digital media studios, materials to create and innovate, workshops teaching robotics and 3D printing, digital recording studios, makerspace that promotes STEM learning, cameras and editing software, prototyping, game creation, creating apps, animation, digital music recording, electronic music programming and Fishbowls (Bieraugel and Neill, 2017; Leorke et al , 2018; Mersand et al , 2019; Nixon et al , 2021; Okpala, 2016; Teasdale, 2021; Willett, 2018). Some libraries have tried to reinvent themselves through partnerships with external stakeholders , such as community and cultural organizations, businesses, early childhood programs, professional trainers and schools that can extend their library offerings by moving beyond the typical, traditional range of services (Bennett, 2015; Lille, 2016; Lopez et al , 2017; Mersand et al , 2019; Willett, 2018).…”