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Assembly-style making: How structured making serves as an on-ramp to creativity and engineering design
Sarah Lukowski1, Megan Goeke1, Bette Schmit1
1Science Museum of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 26, 2023
Summary
Assembly-style making in makerspaces supports novice participants, fostering creativity and engineering design processes. This approach helps families engage in creative expression and learning, contrary to common critiques.
Area of Science:
- STEM Education
- Informal Learning Environments
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Makerspaces offer collaborative environments for creative expression and early engineering learning.
- Assembly-style making, using instructions, faces criticism for potentially limiting creativity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the criticisms and potential benefits of assembly-style making in a museum makerspace.
- To investigate how assembly-style activities impact creativity and engineering thinking in families.
Main Methods:
- Case studies were developed using video data from families participating in a cardboard-focused museum makerspace.
- Analysis focused on creative output and engagement with assembly-style making activities.
Main Results:
- Families produced creative and personally meaningful creations through assembly-style making.
- Assembly-style making facilitated entry for families less comfortable with makerspace activities.
- Evidence of families engaging in engineering design processes was observed.
Conclusions:
- Assembly-style making supports novice makers without hindering creativity or engineering design processes.
- This approach can be a valuable component in makerspaces to accommodate makers of all skill levels.
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