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Tonia A. Dousay
Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published in Educational Technology, and is published here with permission. The following is the citation to the original article.
Dousay, T. A. (2017). Defining and Differentiating the Makerspace. Educational Technology, 57(2), 69-74.
Rise of the Maker Movement
The intersection between constructivism, constructionism, collaborative learning, and problem-based learning comprises the heart of the maker movement. Being a maker means embracing the “do it yourself” or DIY mindset (Morin, 2013), and engaging in making takes different forms. Some call it tinkering, referring to the spirit behind American innovators such as Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs (Lahart, 2009); while others call it hacking, in the essence of the hackerspaces that originally rose in popularity throughout Europe during the 1980s and 1990s (Minsker, 2009). Still others use the terms interchangeably to denote a generic emphasis on creating and exploration. Regardless of which term is used, the hands-on approach to learning from experts and informal structure with particular attention on a truly personal, intrinsic endeavor (Kurti, Kurti, & Fleming, 2014) situates making firmly between constructivism and constructionism. In other words, the social nature of learning defined in constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978) takes shape in a makerspace through interacting with others, learning from those more experienced, proceeding at the learner’s own pace, and disconnecting from most formal learning expectations. The relationship to constructionism (Papert & Harel, 1991) arises naturally through the focus on making something and the learning that occurs through that process. The very nature of working with others when making, hacking, or tinkering creates opportunities for collaborative learning through problem and/or project-based means. In the midst of this booming informal learning phenomenon, however, it provides a prime opportunity for PK-12 schools and universities to explore the implications for formal learning.
While the maker movement itself seems broad and general, the physical spaces that host making activities are even more varied. “Makerspaces are informal sites for creative production in art, science, and engineering where people of all ages blend digital and physical technologies to explore ideas, learn technical skills, and create new products” (Sheridan et al., 2014, p. 505). The emphasis on the informal and exploration translates to a wide variety of spaces including public libraries, community centers, PK-12 classrooms, and even university facilities. From the Chicago Public Library’s Maker Lab to the Creation Station at the St. Helena branch of Beaufort County Library in South Carolina (Ginsberg, 2015), public libraries large and small see the potential of and value in making. One of the oldest community spaces, The Geek Group out of Grand Rapids, MI, began as a collaboration between community members and Gra