Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM

The maker movement is impacting formal and non-formal education all over the world. Makerspaces are playing a critical role in supporting STEM education by providing opportunities for young learners to gather and share experiences, refine their understanding, and build creative artifacts. In Egypt,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2020
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613420586532864
access_status_str Open Access
author Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh
author_browse Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh
author_facet Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh
author_sort Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv The American University in Cairo grants authors of theses and dissertations a maximum embargo period of two years from the date of submission, upon request. After the embargo elapses, these documents are made available publicly. If you are the author of this thesis or dissertation, and would like to request an exceptional extension of the embargo period, please write to thesisadmin@aucegypt.edu
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
description The maker movement is impacting formal and non-formal education all over the world. Makerspaces are playing a critical role in supporting STEM education by providing opportunities for young learners to gather and share experiences, refine their understanding, and build creative artifacts. In Egypt, the formal education system is heavily focused on rote learning, where concepts are introduced in isolation and detachment from their real-world contexts. A design-based approach is proposed as an alternative, where makerspaces serve as stimulating environments that could potentially support concept learning in STEM. However, there is gab in our understanding of how learning STEM concepts can be scaffolded in a design-based learning experience in a makerspace environment. This research aimed towards exploring the dynamics of concept learning in a makerspace educational program for young learners, by adopting the design thinking process as a framework for structuring the learning experience. Methodologically, the study followed a design-based research (DBR) using a qualitative approach. The DBR process started with designing an educational program, followed with implementation, where data was collected through: audio and video recording, interviews, and observations, and finally thematic analysis took place to draw conclusions and come up with a set of design principles for educational programs in makerspaces with the aim of scaffolding concepts in STEM. Findings of this research sheds the light on the rich and complex interaction between problem solving and concept learning processes in a makerspace learning environment, with a noticeable impact of user-centered design, as well as, makerspace tools and objects on learning STEM concepts and ideas. The study also suggests potential improvements of educational program design so that it would better scaffold STEM concepts in makerspaces.
format Thesis
id oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2785
institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:51.500Z
license_str Creative Commons
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher AUC Knowledge Fountain
publisherStr AUC Knowledge Fountain
record_format dspace
source_str AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2785 Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh The maker movement is impacting formal and non-formal education all over the world. Makerspaces are playing a critical role in supporting STEM education by providing opportunities for young learners to gather and share experiences, refine their understanding, and build creative artifacts. In Egypt, the formal education system is heavily focused on rote learning, where concepts are introduced in isolation and detachment from their real-world contexts. A design-based approach is proposed as an alternative, where makerspaces serve as stimulating environments that could potentially support concept learning in STEM. However, there is gab in our understanding of how learning STEM concepts can be scaffolded in a design-based learning experience in a makerspace environment. This research aimed towards exploring the dynamics of concept learning in a makerspace educational program for young learners, by adopting the design thinking process as a framework for structuring the learning experience. Methodologically, the study followed a design-based research (DBR) using a qualitative approach. The DBR process started with designing an educational program, followed with implementation, where data was collected through: audio and video recording, interviews, and observations, and finally thematic analysis took place to draw conclusions and come up with a set of design principles for educational programs in makerspaces with the aim of scaffolding concepts in STEM. Findings of this research sheds the light on the rich and complex interaction between problem solving and concept learning processes in a makerspace learning environment, with a noticeable impact of user-centered design, as well as, makerspace tools and objects on learning STEM concepts and ideas. The study also suggests potential improvements of educational program design so that it would better scaffold STEM concepts in makerspaces. 2020-05-31T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1753 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2785/viewcontent/NAIL_lamiaa_thesis_2020_Redacted.pdf The American University in Cairo grants authors of theses and dissertations a maximum embargo period of two years from the date of submission, upon request. After the embargo elapses, these documents are made available publicly. If you are the author of this thesis or dissertation, and would like to request an exceptional extension of the embargo period, please write to thesisadmin@aucegypt.edu http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain maker education makerspaces conceptual learning design thinking fab labs Social and Behavioral Sciences
spellingShingle maker education
makerspaces
conceptual learning
design thinking
fab labs
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mohamed Nail, Lamiaa Mamdouh
Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM
title Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM
title_full Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM
title_fullStr Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM
title_full_unstemmed Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM
title_short Makerspaces in education: designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in STEM
title_sort makerspaces in education designing makerspace program to scaffold for conceptual understanding of young learners in stem
topic maker education
makerspaces
conceptual learning
design thinking
fab labs
Social and Behavioral Sciences
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1753
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2785/viewcontent/NAIL_lamiaa_thesis_2020_Redacted.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mohamednaillamiaamamdouh makerspacesineducationdesigningmakerspaceprogramtoscaffoldforconceptualunderstandingofyounglearnersinstem