Learning from Toy Makers in the Field to Inform Teaching Engineering Design in the Classroom

Foster, Chrissy Hobson; Dickens, Matthew; Jordan, Shawn S.; Lande, Micah

doi:10.18260/p.24407

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In engineering, the American Society for Engineering Education has promoted the importance of including making in the curriculum and the potential of makerspaces to lead to new technologies and innovations; align informal and formal learning; restructure methods of teaching, evaluation, and assessment; and create opportunities for diversity, accessibility, and inclusion ( 2016; 2017). Echoing this call, Foster et al (2015) claim that making experiences develop practical skills that are essential to a comprehensive engineering education. Others simply argue for the potential of the unique makerspace culture that may profoundly shape the education of students, in engineering and beyond (Forest et al 2014).…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-efficacy and belonging: the impact of a university makerspace

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background In recent years, makerspaces have become increasingly common venues of STEM education and are rapidly being incorporated into undergraduate programs. These spaces give students and instructors access to advanced design technology and facilitate the incorporation of a wide variety of projects into the curriculum; however, their impacts on students are not yet fully understood. Using matched survey responses (i.e., repeated measures) from undergraduate students enrolled in engineering courses that assigned a makerspace-based project, we evaluate how the use of a university makerspace impacts students’ attitudes towards design, engineering, and technology. Further, we examine whether there are differences based on students’ year in program, gender, and race. Results Paired t-tests were used to analyze whether and how nine factors changed within individual students over one semester. Analyses revealed that students who visited the facility showed significant gains in measures of innovation orientation, design self-efficacy, innovation self-efficacy, technology self-efficacy, belonging to the makerspace, and belonging to the engineering community. Subsequently, repeated measures analyses of variance (RMANOVAs) on the students who visited the makerspace revealed significant main effects of students’ year in program, gender, and race, as well as interactional effects of both year in program and race with time. Conclusions These results affirm the value of incorporating makerspace-based projects into STEM curricula, especially during early coursework. However, our analyses revealed consistent gender gaps in measures of self-efficacy before and after using the makerspace. Similarly, gains in belonging to the makerspace were not equal across racial groups. We conclude that while makerspaces are fulfilling some of their promise for educating innovative problem solvers, more attention needs to be paid to avoid reproducing disparities in STEM education that are already experienced by female students and racial minorities.

show abstract

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-efficacy and belonging: the impact of a university makerspace

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An evolving group of "Makers" in society has developed. Makers are defined as a group of tinkerers, hobbyists, and DIYers who enjoy creating and building technology-facilitated gadgets such as toys (Foster, Dickens, Jordan, & Lande, 2015), learning new skills, and interacting within a connected community of other self-identified Makers (Dougherty, 2012). Makers have many characteristics that overlap those of engineers (Heiman, Lande, & Jordan, 2015;Lande, Jordan, & Nelson, 2013;Oplinger et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Leaders: Leadership Characteristics Of Makers And Engineers In The Maker Community

Oplinger

Lande

Jordan

et al. 2016

AJEE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Of course, there are many different ways to approach teaching through these mindsets and many different subjects that could be taught. Other subjects that have useful skills for Makers or Entrepreneurs such as engineering could be taught in tandem [18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Maker and Entrepreneurial Characteristics

Jordan²,

Lande³

et al.

2017 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

He teaches context-centered electrical engineering and embedded systems design courses, and studies the use of context in both K-12 and undergraduate engineering design education. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Education (2010) and M.S./B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. Dr. Jordan is PI on several NSF-funded projects related to design, including an NSF Early CAREER Award entitled "CAREER: Engineering Design Across Navajo Culture, Community, and Society" and "Might Young Makers be the Engineers of the Future?," and is a Co-PI on the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments grant "Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking." He was named one of ASEE PRISM's "20 Faculty Under 40" in 2014, and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama in 2017. Dr. Jordan co-developed the STEAM Labs TM program to engage middle and high school students in learning science, technology, engineering, arts, and math concepts through designing and building chain reaction machines. He founded and led teams to two collegiate Rube Goldberg Machine Contest national championships, and has appeared on many TV shows (including Modern Marvels on The History Channel and Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC) and a movie with his chain reaction machines. He serves on the Board of the i.d.e.a. Museum in Mesa, AZ, and worked as a behind-the scenes engineer for season 3 of the PBS engineering design reality TV show Design Squad. He also held the Guinness World Record for the largest number of steps-125-in a working Rube Goldberg machine.

show abstract

Learning from Toy Makers in the Field to Inform Teaching Engineering Design in the Classroom

Cited by 7 publications

References 6 publications

Self-efficacy and belonging: the impact of a university makerspace

Self-efficacy and belonging: the impact of a university makerspace

Making Leaders: Leadership Characteristics Of Makers And Engineers In The Maker Community

A Comparison of Maker and Entrepreneurial Characteristics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About