EAGER: MAKER: Student Learning Trajectories from Making Activities

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Arizona State University seeks to understand how open-ended, hands-on Making work and activities can reflect student learning gains in formal engineering education, particularly in an undergraduate, product-based course. The aim is to expand understanding of what Making and learning through Making in the context of engineering design education might be. The results generated during this study will describe the learning trajectories of engineers as they learn Making. These results will illustrate educational pathways within the engineering education curriculum that could be further studied. By examining the engineering student Making learning experience this work can impact the quality of engineering design teaching. The intellectual merit of this project will be the advancement of knowledge of the learning pathways of Making through capturing empirical evidence in the engineering classroom using multiple qualitative methods. This exploratory project will address the relationship of a Making mindset and engineering design practice. The results will have the potential to highlight routes to Making learning that can illustrate pathways to engineering as well as a means for faculty and institutions to adopt a Making mindset approach in engineering design learning that is more inclusive. This project is a part of NSF's Maker Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) portfolio (NSF 15-086), a collaborative investment of Directorates for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR) and Engineering (ENG).