Remaking makerspaces: a shift in the design of makerspaces through a 4E cognition perspective

Abstract

Making has recently emerged as a valuable practice in engineering education because it leads to the learning of skills such as design, prototyping, inquiry and experimentation. However, there is a gap in our understanding of how making practices lead to conceptual learning which limits its adoption in engineering education. Grounded within the theories of 4E cognition and adopting a multimodal combined qualitative and learning analytic approach, in this work I propose to investigate the learning processes within a makerspace. Such an approach will enable me to identify the productive making practices and their underlying cognitive processes which lead to conceptual learning. The findings will contribute to the redesign of makerspaces to engender the identified learning processes, and subsequently lead to novel approaches to making-based education in engineering.