CAREER: Making Across Contexts - Pathways to Engineering Adaptive Expertise

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

This study investigates youth participation in the Maker Movement ? a community of engineers, hobbyists, artists, and tinkerers who design, build, and repurpose material objects ? as a pathway to adaptive expertise in engineering and design. The study looks across formal (schools) and informal (community organizations) learning environments to examine how youth learn through ?making? in these contexts. Drawing from these cross-setting contrasts, learning environments centered on ?making? will be designed, studied through mixed methods research, and progressively refined in an iterative fashion. The research addresses important gaps in the literature by investigating the development of adaptive expertise over an extended time period and the development of engineering identity through ?making? and participation in the Maker Movement. This study will provide research-based recommendations for practice, cognitive tools to support learning, and novel assessments of learning. Findings will be widely disseminated to both researchers and practitioners through conference papers, journal articles, and through partnerships with leading organizations within the Maker Movement.