What Can We Learn From Educators About Teaching in Makerspaces?

Current research examining learning in makerspaces is primarily centered around the learners’ experiences and not the educators, thus presenting a gap not only in our understanding of educators’ perspectives but also in how we design educational technologies for learning in makerspaces. In our work, we address this gap through an interview study investigating seven educators’ experiences of teaching maker skills across five diverse makerspaces. Our thematic analysis of the educators’ practices resulted in an outline of the competencies that the educators centralize in their teaching, the strategies they integrate into their teaching practices, and the challenges they encounter while teaching in makerspaces. We discuss how this analysis can give insights into the educators’ values and perspectives of makerspace learning and inform the design of learning tools and experiences within the makerspaces.