Exploring Making through Mobile Emergent Technologies: Makerspace Education in Rural Communities. WCER Working Paper No. 2021-1

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35

Telecommunications; Handheld Devices; Educational Technology; Technology Uses in Education; Rural Schools; Science Education; STEM Education; High Schools; Thinking Skills; Mentors; Experiential Learning; Informal Education; Partnerships in Education; Community Programs; Program Effectiveness; Manufacturing Industry; School Community Programs; Skill Development; Job Skills; Workshops; Postsecondary Education; Access to Education; Student Interests; Job Training; Two Year Colleges; Vocational Schools; Higher Education; High School Students; Youth Programs; Public Libraries; Communities of Practice; Recruitment; Coding; Teamwork; Facilitators (Individuals)

The Exploring Making Through Mobile Emergent Technologies (EMMET) program sought to disrupt the trajectory from rural high school to factory floor by introducing STEM and computational thinking (STEM+C) skills through mentorship training and hands-on activities involving creative production--often referred to as "making." The program also bridged the divide between formal school science education and informal opportunities for science learning outside of school--a division that has marginalized young people from science class and devalued everyday science experiences (Stocklmayer et al., 2010). The overall project focused on designing maker experiences, training local high school students as "maker-mentors" for their community, developing partnerships with area community-based organizations, and researching what program participants learn about STEM and computational thinking. The work described in this white paper offers a model for regions with distributed, rural populations to build capacity for young people to develop skills and self-efficacy in STEM+C fields. This paper aims to answer the following questions: (1) How are rural communities impacted by mobile making experiences that involve community mentors as instructors? (2) What do maker-mentors learn as a result of their participation in facilitating mobile making experiences? and (3) What aspects of the community-involved maker experiences are sustained beyond institutional intervention? [This paper was written with contributions from Tim Fetting, Vicki Jeppesen, and Darren Ackley.]

ERIC

2021

ED611673