ETR&D

This study is to develop and validate a scale that measures the acceptance intention of secondary school teachers toward gamified English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) tools. Drawing upon the technology acceptance models (TAM) and related frameworks, we synthesized a framework that includes six main factors contributing to teachers’ acceptance intention of gamified learning tools. These factors are perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEoU), perceived risks, facilitating conditions, and control variables. The study involved 361 and 512 secondary school teachers who participated in qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, respectively. Surprisingly, in the context of implementing gamified tools for the teaching of English-as-a-second-language, the results indicate that only two factors can be retained in the proposed framework (PU and PEoU). However, PU and PEoU in the current research contexts brought new connotations, which is of significance for future studies. Eventually, a five-item scale measuring PU (PU-gamification-EFL) and a six-item scale measuring PEoU (PEoU-gamification-EFL) have been validated. Implications and limitations were discussed, as well as suggestions for future studies.

Emergent technologies present platforms for educational researchers to conduct randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and collect rich data to study students’ performance, behavior, learning processes, and outcomes in authentic learning environments. As educational research increasingly uses methods and data collection from such platforms, it is necessary to consider the most appropriate ways to analyze this data to draw causal inferences from RCTs. Here, we examine whether and how analysis results are impacted by accounting for multilevel variance in samples from RCTs with student-level randomization within one platform. We propose and demonstrate a method that leverages auxiliary non-experimental “remnant” data collected within a learning platform to inform analysis decisions. Specifically, we compare five commonly-applied analysis methods to estimate treatment effects while accounting for, or ignoring, class-level factors and observed measures of confidence and accuracy to identify best practices under real-world conditions. We find that methods that account for groups as either fixed effects or random effects consistently outperform those that ignore group-level factors, even though randomization was applied at the student level. However, we found no meaningful differences between the use of fixed or random effects as a means to account for groups. We conclude that analyses of online experiments should account for the naturally-nested structure of students within classes, despite the notion that student-level randomization may alleviate group-level differences. Further, we demonstrate how to use remnant data to identify appropriate methods for analyzing experiments. These findings provide practical guidelines for researchers conducting RCTs in similar educational technologies to make more informed decisions when approaching analyses.

This special issue aims to sketch the present state of maker learning research, reveal possible tensions, and present future possibilities to articulate principles for learning through design in the era of maker education. The special issue was announced in 2022 in ETR&D, a leading academic journal in educational technology. Of the 50 submissions to the special issue, eighteen (18) were accepted for publication. The editors favored a robust inclusion of papers to help define the contours of the field at present. Four clusters of topics are identified in this collection of papers: (i) STEM+ disciplinary and transdisciplinary learning spaces; (ii) Digital technologies in making, opportunities and challenges; (iii) Assessment practices and frameworks; (iv) Representation, inclusion, and tensions around maker-centered initiatives and reforms. The editors of the special issue believe that these clusters reflect the current state-of-the-art in the field as well as significant questions to guide near future research. Reflecting on these papers but also the overall editorial process, the editors identified several opportunities and provide suggestions on how the field might expand moving forward.

Amidst this era of rapid technological advancement, the impact of White dominance in STEM causes inequity throughout the design, implementation, and function of modern technologies. Evidence of this includes AI systems that perpetuate racial and gender biases, medical devices that are incompatible with non-White medical needs, and hiring algorithms that prioritize the White male experience. Though not a panacea, greater representation of traditionally marginalized groups in the STEM workforce will help reduce and safeguard against digital racism, sexism, and ableism. Advocates of greater representation in STEM fields suggest that makerspace pedagogy and design that is rooted in equity and inclusivity can attract students from traditionally marginalized groups and make STEM more accessible and welcoming to all. To this end, this paper proposes a modification of the TPACK theoretical framework (Koehler and Mishra in Contemp Issues Tech Teach Educ 9(1):60–70, 2009) that centers knowledge of technological and inclusive practices in Makerspaces, giving rise to the Maker Technology, Pedagogy, Inclusion, and Content Knowledge (MakerTPICK) theoretical framework. Additionally, this paper presents the Makerspace Planning, Implementation, Establishment, and Reassessment (PIER) conceptual framework. This framework outlines the process for makerspace leaders to create and sustain an inclusive makerspace through the MakerTPICK framework, be they teachers in a school setting or makerspace coordinators outside of the field of K-12 education. The paper describes future implications for these frameworks in terms of practical applications for makerspaces and applied to research settings.

Public libraries have embraced the popularity of maker education and makerspaces by integrating maker education in their program offerings, and by developing makerspaces that enable patrons to tinker and create products. But less attention has been paid to supporting librarians and maker educators in assessing the impact of these spaces. To expand assessment scholarship and practices related to public library makerspaces, we offer two contributions. First, we share findings from a qualitative research study in which we analyzed how 17 library staff and maker educators define success and identify evidence of success in their maker programs. The findings from that study, in conjunction with our collective experience as research partners working with public library makerspaces, laid the foundation for a series of analysis tools we developed to help stakeholders identify the assessment needs of such learning environments. The Properties of Success Analysis Tools (PSA Tools) represent our second contribution; these tools invite library staff and maker educators to reflect on and unpack their definitions of success in order to identify what features a relevant assessment tool should have.

Maker education provides the perfect context for young learners to develop 21st-century skills. However, research is inconclusive on how these skills could be assessed. Namely, the complex nature of 21st-century skills requires different types of assessments, not necessarily relying on paper-and-pencil or multiple-choice tests, but rather drawing on the learners’ perspective in the form of self-assessment and reflection. Prior studies highlighted several challenges of situating self-assessment in makerspace contexts, such as the lack of dedicated technology for documentation, distractions caused by noise or group work, and the lack of skills and motivation to practice self-assessment. This paper presents an exploratory case study aimed at an in-depth investigation of the use of a digital self-assessment tool of 21st-century skills in makerspace contexts. The authors converged qualitative data collected mainly from interviews with teachers and students. Researcher observations and tool log files (e.g., student work in the digital tool) were used as triangulation sources. Although challenges emerged, the study presents encouraging findings regarding the use of the digital tool for raising students’ awareness of their development of 21st -century skills and engaging them in self-assessment and reflection. The results of the study provide rich insights to guide future research on the topic.

The emergence of immersive VR technology in K-12 educational spaces has created a need for research examining the affordances and constraints of this technology for student learning. The current study uses a case-study methodology to illustrate K-12 secondary science teachers’ perceived affordances and constraints of using immersive VR tools to develop maker-centered learning experiences which align with curricular goals following a professional development experience. Findings suggest teachers were able to design student-centered maker learning experiences using immersive VR devices that addressed K-12 science content. In addition, participants discovered ways to overcome reported challenges, and develop teaching artifacts as well. This study offers a model for teacher educators in this area, examples of curriculum aligned learning activities, and provides a foundation for future research on integration of VR in K-12 contexts.

Despite recent efforts to support learners from traditionally minoritized backgrounds in mathematics, inequities in math achievement and participation still exist, particularly for women and people of color. Additionally, much of how math is taught in schools aligns with a particular epistemology that comes from western mathematicians and philosophers.  While a strong link between weaving and mathematics has been established, fewer studies explore the possibilities of this link for supporting youth’s pluralistic engagement with mathematics in educational settings. Thus, we ask: In a making-focused intervention designed to expose youth to the mathematical practices inherent in weaving, how do student-created artifacts showcase learning? In this paper, four cases demonstrate how middle-school youth learning to weave and learning through weaving experimented or leveled up their planned or implemented designs. Their learning processes showcase engagement with mathematics that mirrors that of more experienced weavers. Making visible the mathematical engagement that youth undertake through weaving may be a step toward building frameworks and classroom activities through making that work to combat these disciplinary issues.

Teachers’ beliefs such as pedagogical beliefs, self-efficacy, and technology value beliefs are influential to technology integration practice. This study aims to investigate teachers’ beliefs and the impact on their 3D printing integration in science classrooms. A total of 26 K-12 teachers across six states in the U.S. participated in a nationally funded project. Teachers’ STEM education lesson plans were analyzed to assess their 3D printing and STEM integration levels. Teachers’ beliefs were collected through a survey with rating scales adapted from previously validated surveys and several open-ended questions. Correlation analysis was conducted to investigate how teacher beliefs were associated with their 3D printing integration. Thematic analysis of the open-ended questions provided a detailed view on teachers’ experiences and perceptions, which further explained teachers’ beliefs and the impact on their 3D printing integration practice. This study revealed that teachers’ pedagogical, self-efficacy, and technology value beliefs were generally not correlated with their 3D printing integration practices except for a negative correlation between teachers’ self-efficacy in pedagogical content knowledge and their STEM integration levels. Teachers perceived 3D printing integration as beneficial for students, but they encountered a number of challenges including logistic and technical issues, lack of time and resources, insufficient ability to use 3D printers and connect 3D printing with curriculums, and challenges in teaching students with individual differences. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

In this manuscript, we describe a coding club we created and implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were purposeful in creating the club to: (a) focus on design and problem solving as the basis for learning computer coding and (b) include elements to improve the engagement of girls. We ran multiple iterations of a Girls Design with Code Club that involved over 100 girls from 22 countries. We reviewed various sources of data to evaluate how our design and implementation of the coding clubs impacted the girls who participated. In an effort to share our learnings with other researchers and program providers, we share evidence of choices that we believe had positive impacts and others that we can improve in future iterations.

Computer science teaching standards for grades K-8 have been implemented in nearly all U.S. states, and the core subject area teachers (e.g., math, science, English, social studies) have been asked to integrate these standards into their instruction. Thus, it is important that K-8 pre-service teachers of all subjects are both prepared and motivated to teach computer science concepts—such as programming—upon entering the field. However, little is known about how pre-service teachers learn and retain programming knowledge or obtain and sustain their motivation related to programming. Maker-focused educational robotics activities have the potential to both reduce abstract cognitive load and work as motivational tools for STEM learning. The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ motivational persistence and retention of programming concepts after learning with educational robotics through maker-focused computer science activities. Hands-on maker robotics programming activities were used to teach and motivate pre-service teachers. This quantitative study utilized repeated measures through pre-, post-, and 6-month follow-up surveys and tests. The findings indicated the pre-service teachers’ programming comprehension gains exhibited on the posttest deteriorated substantially to near-baseline levels within 6 months of instruction. Conversely, pre-service teachers’ motivation related to programming continued to rise after the instruction had concluded. Both the retention of comprehension of programming concepts and motivational persistence findings imply that educator preparation providers should integrate programming instruction throughout their pre-service teacher curricula and support curricular initiatives that call for the integration of computer science instruction across pre-service teacher methods courses to reinforce computer science learning.

Makerspaces, especially in their diverse proliferating forms, support a broad variety of learning outcomes. There is rich work in attempting to understand and describe these learning goals. Yet, there is a lack of support for practitioners and educators to assess the learning in events and programming at makerspaces (and similar environments) without extensive videorecording and documentation. In this paper, we present our design iterations at adapting the Tinkering Studio’s Learning Dimensions Framework (LDF) into tools usable by makerspace facilitators. These tools are intended to support recording observations, to inform the design of events they organize. Coupling an activity theory perspective (Cole and Engeström in The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007) with Tatar’s (2007) Design Tensions framework, we highlight key categories of considerations that emerge in creating and implementing such an assessment system, namely, tools, terminology, and practice. These interlinked categories foreground the following tensions which expand our considerations for the practice of assessment in makerspaces: supporting real-time, informative observation increases granularity of data collected, but also imposes a cost on facilitator attention; using a common assessment framework across different facilitators requires developing and establishing shared vocabulary and understanding; and tool-driven assessments need repeated adaptation and responsiveness to different facilitator practices. Additionally, this analysis also surfaces the learning for facilitators themselves in such a co-design process of creating and implementing tools to understand, recognize and assess learning experiences through the lenses of personal and shared values around productive learning.

Makerspaces persist as formal and informal spaces of learning for youth, promoting continued interest in studying how design can support the variety of learning opportunities within these spaces. However, much of the current research examining learning in makerspaces neglects the perspectives of educators. This not only hinders our understanding of educators’ goals and how educators navigate makerspaces but also constrains how we frame the design space of the learning experiences and environments. To address this, we engaged in a set of semi-structured interviews to examine the contexts, goals, values, and practices of seven educators across five makerspaces. A thematic analysis of the data identified six key categories of competencies that these educators prioritize including a range of skills, practices, and knowledge, such as technical proficiency, communication, and contextual reflection. The analysis also identified five categories of strategies to accomplish certain goals, such as scaffolding, collaboration, and relationship building. Last, it also shed light on three categories of challenges faced at the student-level, teacher-level, and institutional level. We conclude with a discussion on our insights into how we can broaden the problem space in the design of educational technologies to support learning in makerspaces.