Work-In-Progress Papers
Work-in-progress-papers are being presented as a short pitch and poster during the poster and demo session I + II on Thursday, June 3rd 11:00-12:00 and 13:00-14:15.
Poster 1: Towards Better Understanding Maker Ecosystems
James Fey and Katherine Isbister
University of California Santa Cruz, USA
Abstract
This paper presents early work towards the development of a set of lenses for analyzing Maker ecosystems. By ecosystems, we mean the combination of hardware offered and web-presence that teaches/sells/builds community around that hardware, as well as the community of makers themselves. We analyzed 35 ecosystems, including well-known larger ones, as well as smaller, specialized environments. We present a set of key factors for consideration by anyone intending to use an ecosystem for a particular population or need in research, along with a set of examples of how these lenses can be applied for analysis. Key factors include: whether the ecosystem is open or closed, how they present onboarding materials that help users learn the platform, whether there is a growth path that supports continued learning and development, what they require or expect from users to participate, and the avenues of community development available for makers to share their work and knowledge.
Poster 2: A Maker Approach For The Future Of Learning
Francesca Fiore, Alberto Montresor, Maurizio Marchese,
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Trento, Italy
Abstract
Cross-disciplinarity and active learning have been recently recognized as fundamental educational tools to enable the understanding of our complex reality. For this reason, educational models are shifting from a traditional approach to an integrated one, where Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are merged with Arts (STEAM), acknowledging the fact that future citizens and workers will need not only technical skills, but also imagination, creativity, design and critical thinking. This paper describes an effort to design, develop and evaluate novel educational models based on the integration of ICT skills with the “makers” philosophy, both inside and outside the University of Trento. For this purpose, we have created two FabLabs, one static at University, the other on wheels called ApeLab. The goal is to activate informal learning processes, empowering our students through learning-by-doing methodologies, but also exploiting them to bring this educational models to the general public, fulfilling the “third-mission” of our university.
Poster 3: Social Necklace Project: A student-made gadget to help people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lemonica Rosa Rodrigo
Beacon School, São Paulo, Brazil
Abstract
This paper presents the Y9 (9th-grade level) project from Beacon School, São Paulo – Brazil, entitled Social Necklace. The main scope was to bring for students’ maker learning, programming literacy, and computational thinking. Through hands-on activities, all students could think, experiment, create, and learn. Fundamental premises to transform them into producers instead of simple technology consumers. During classes, the STEAM and PBL (Project Based Learning) approaches were the basis, which allowed students to choose the theme COVID-19, the driving question: Can technology contribute to helping in the control and prevention of pandemics? And coding and setting a gadget using the BBC Micro:bit, as an answer to the question. The work carried out with the students enabled many dialogues between the different fields of knowledge. Through maker education, it was possible to engage students in learning activities very distinct from traditional education.
Poster 4: Opportunities and Scaffolds for Critical Reflection on Ethical Issues in an Online After School Biowearable Workshop for Youth
Alissa N. Antle, Alexandra Kitson, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Yves Candau, Katrien Jacobs and Zoe Dao-Kroeker
School of Interactive Arts & Technology, Simon Fraser University
Yumiko Murai and Azadeh Adibi
Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University
Abstract
The rapid adoption of biowearables, such as smartwatches, raises ethical issues as youth are increasingly being tracked, monitored and given feedback on a growing number of measures. To address this pressing need, we investigated how to support youth to understand and explore these ethical issues grounded in the processes of prototyping during an afterschool online critical making workshop. The main contribution of this paper is our critical reflection framework, consisting of three interrelated components: ethical issues, technical opportunities, and reflection scaffolds. We focus on ethical issues related to the potential for biowearables to negatively impact six constructs taken from child development. We describe how we created a biowearable-tangible prototyping kit that has under-determined design decision points, creating technologically-mediated opportunities for reflection during the iterative prototyping process. Third, we present a set of critical reflection cards created to support youth to explore the ethical issues related to those decision points. We provide two scenarios from a pilot study that illustrate our framework in action, providing preliminary validation for our approach in an online environment.
Poster 5: Teaching and learning educational robotics: an open source robot and its e-learning platform
Cristina Gena, Claudio Mattutino, Davide Cellie, Franco Di Ninno and Enrico Mosca
University of Turin
Abstract
This paper describes a Google funded project devoted to the training of teachers (primary and secondary school) to coding and
educational robotics through an open e-learning platform containing lessons and activities devoted to them. We will also introduce the open source educational robot we are realizing and releasing for that purpose.
Poster 6: Make4Change: Empowering Unemployed Youth through Digital Fabrication
Heidi Hartikainen, Marta Cortés Orduña, Marjukka Käsmä, Iván Sánchez Milara and Leena Ventä-Olkkonen
University of Oulu
Abstract
Recently, there has been a large body of research exploring the possibilities of digital fabrication and making in school context. To truly embrace the spirit of equity and democracy so essential to the maker movement, more research is needed concerning how these activities can be used to empower marginalized and at-risk groups. In this paper, we introduce preliminary insights from Make4Change project, that aims to strengthen the social inclusion and employability of unemployed, young people and immigrants outside the labor market through digital fabrication and making. We use the criteria for empowerment of participants as a tool to reflect the planning, organization, and execution of learning activities and on improving our process moving forward. We believe that insights from Make4Change will be useful to practitioners and researchers looking to empower underrepresented, marginal, or at-risk populations through making.
Poster 7: Sheep With Five Feet. Struggling to teach, make, help, observe, and learn simultaneously in maker education
Peter Troxler, HAN University of Applied Sciences and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Maarten Hennekes, HAN University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Tjeerd Kootstra, Rozet, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Bregje Rikken, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Abstract
Makercosmos is a four-year maker education programme in Arnhem, the Netherlands, which comprises the development of series of maker education lessons and participatory action research about learning in maker education, among other activities. This study reports findings from the first pilot of this series, with a particular focust on how the research part was designed, developed, and delivered. Practice showed, that in our context asking teachers to teach and to carry out data collection for research simultaneously produced only meagre results when using a conventional notebook approach. Design principles are suggested to remodel the research approach.
Poster 8: Three Approaches for Shaping Safety Culture in Digital Fabrication: A Research Roadmap
Mikko Rajanen and Dorina Rajanen
INTERACT Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland
Abstract
There is a lack of safety culture in digital fabrication context which can create hazards to humans, machines, and environment. We outline a research roadmap and call for action for assessing and building safety culture and safety consciousness in the digital fabrication context based on our experiences in studying this topic from practical and theoretical perspectives. Our approach for both mapping the status of safety in digital fabrication practice, as well as advocating the safety consciousness within digital fabrication scene consists of three methods, which provide insights from qualitative, quantitative, and design science perspectives. We believe that the three research methods described provide a holistic understanding on the status of, discourses about, and methods for implementing safety in Fab Labs and other makerspaces worldwide. This understanding will further help in building theories, methods, concepts, and processes for studying and shaping safety culture.
Poster 9: The Fab Lab Classroom: Scaffolding STEM Concepts by Adopting and Adapting Design Thinking
Lamiaa Nail and Heba El-Deghaidy
The American University in Cairo
Abstract
Fabrication labs are playing a critical role in supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education by providing opportunities for young learners to gather and share experiences, refine their understanding, and build creative artifacts. The formal education system in Egypt is heavily focused on rote learning, where concepts are introduced in isolation and detached from their real-world contexts. A design-based approach is proposed as an alternative, where fabrication labs serve as stimulating environments that could potentially support concept learning in STEM. However, more needs to be known about how learning STEM concepts can be scaffolded in a design-based learning experience in a fabrication lab. This paper demonstrates the initial outcomes of a research in progress that aims to generate principles for designing learning experiences that scaffold STEM concepts for young learners in fabrication labs. The initial proposed approach for learning experience design adopts and adapts the design thinking model.