EAGER: MAKER: Making Prosthetics for Kids - Socially Relevant Making to Catalyze Diversity and Engagement in STEM Learning

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

This exploratory research project is studying socially-relevant Making in the context of an on campus university Makerspace. Project studies are developing best practice models of how informal STEM learning through Making can be leveraged to improve the effectiveness of both informal and formal learning approaches, as well as to increase retention and broaden participation in STEM education for students and faculty. This is being studied across both secondary and post-secondary levels in partnership with a local engineering-focused high school. Project research is grounded in a specific socially-relevant challenge problem: designing and fabricating prosthetic hands for children who need them. Challenge problem activities are connected directly to real world context and outcomes in partnership with a nonprofit organization that specializes in facilitating and providing 3D printed recreational prosthetic hands free of charge for children with limb differences. Project research is defining novel integrations of informal and formal STEM learning pathways, providing case studies, learning materials, lessons learned, and scalable design templates for learning ecosystems at other institutions. The focus on design thinking supports learning benefits from cross-disciplinary interaction, particularly in interdisciplinary peer learning of STEM concepts, exposing non-STEM learners to STEM concepts, and disrupting traditional teacher-student roles. Project outcomes are catalyzing and sustaining diverse learner transitions to a Maker STEM-based affinity identity by identifying best practice design patterns for learning, focused by the challenge problem, which can be applied more generally to foster synergetic interactions between formal and informal learning within educational environments.