2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This research paper presents the initial construct definitions for an assessment instrument to measure student learning in makerspaces. Makerspaces enable learning through social interaction and hands-on activities when creating physical solutions to a problem. Due to the positive perception of the impact of makerspaces on student learning, these spaces have drawn the attention of different types of institutions, including libraries, communities, and higher education. As such, new makerspaces are constantly being created, and research about those spaces is also proliferating. However, there are currently no instruments with evidence of validity and reliability that can be used for assessing learning in makerspaces. Therefore, as the first step in the process of generating an instrument, this study seeks to answer the research question: “What are the definitions of constructs for learning in a makerspace?” To create our construct definitions, we first assembled a team of instrument development experts and makerspace experts. The makerspace experts had previously conducted several qualitative studies on makerspaces, culminating in a Learning Typology for Makerspaces. Following the principles of instrument development outlined by Netemeyer et al. (2003), our team created concise essence statements for each of the constructs in the typology, which summarize the main idea behind each of the constructs we want to measure. Next, we created conceptualization statements derived from the essence statements, expanding on each construct’s meaning by incorporating key empirical knowledge of the makerspace experts. Finally, we conducted a literature review to ground the final definitions for each construct. This literature review was guided by the ideas present in the essence and conceptualization statements, and thus, the final definitions expand on the empirical knowledge of our experts with other perspectives reported on the literature. We created a set of essence and conceptualization statements along with a formal definition supported by the literature for a total of six constructs related to learning in makerspaces. The six constructs are (1) Learning by Doing, related to the process of learning through active engagement in maker activities; (2) Learning by Others, related to the process of learning through engagement with other people or artifacts created by others; (3) Content Knowledge and Skills, related to the technical disciplinary knowledge learned in makerspaces; (4) Cultural Knowledge and Skills, related to learning and navigating the culture of a makerspace; (5) Ingenuity, related to the inventiveness of learners when creating solutions constrained by their making environment; and (6) Self-awareness, related to learners’ development of transferable attitudes, motivation, and character. The definitions were created as a starting point for developing a quantitative instrument for measuring learning in makerspaces. Having experts in makerspaces along with experts in instrument development proved to be beneficial to the process, as it allowed the concepts to be explored in greater depth. These resultant definitions enable the continuation of the development of a makerspace instrument, while also serving as an operationalization of learning in makerspaces for the wider research community.