Methodology for educational making activities (VIII)

Assessing learning in maker education

CNC caption at MakerConvent.

Typically, teachers and educators find it very hard to assess and evaluate making activities. For one thing, the spirit of making activities consist of unleashing one’s imagination and creativity to produce whatever gadget one feels like. The issue with project-based learning is that guidelines for making activities are kept to a minimum, however this means that it is not possible for the final creation to be evaluated against a system of pre-established standards.

In this section we aim to provide some methods and solutions for assessing the learning that would have been experienced by each of the participants. These methods each exemplify an intellectual approach (eg. focusing on the learning process, focusing on the finished product, focusing on content knowledge / technical skills, focusing on soft skills and context).

Focusing on the soft skills

One assessment method consists of focusing on the soft-skills that can be developed through maker education, and are regarded as critical outcomes of maker education. One model for identifying and thinking about them was developed by the Exploratorium Tinkering Studio.

They developed the concept of having learning dimensions in maker education, which can be simplified into 5 different areas: initiative and intentionality, problem solving critical thinking, conceptual understanding, creativity and self-expression, social and emotional engagement.

Each of these 5 dimensions are associated with a number of indicators that apply to makers and tinkerers.

1. initiative and intentionality

• actively participating
• setting one’s own goal
• taking intellectual and creative risks
• adjusting goals, based on physical feedback and evidence

2. problem solving and critical thinking

• troubleshooting through iterations
• dissecting the problem components
• seeking ideas, tools, and materials to solve the problem
• developing work arounds

3. conceptual understanding

• making observations and asking questions
• testing tentative ideas
• constructing explanations
• applying solutions to new problems

4. creativity and self-expression

• playfully exploring
• responding aesthetically to materials and phenomena
• connecting projects to personal interests and experiences
• using materials in novel ways

5. social and emotional engagement

• working in teams
• teaching and helping one another
• expressing pride and ownership
• documenting/sharing ideas with others

Focusing on content knowledge/technical skills

Another approach for evaluating learning in maker education consists of assessing knowledge and technical skills which are acquired by the young makers. Typically, focusing on hard skills is something which is reminiscent of traditional assessment methods, in other words standard classroom assessment methods.

There exists various frameworks for assessing technical skills and content knowledge relevant to maker education. One such framework has been provided by the raspberry pi foundation. They have identified 5 clusters of skills, namely: design, programming, physical computing, manufacture and community and sharing.

Design refers to developing 2D and 3D assets. Programming consists of using programming constructs to create simple programs. Physical computing is about using digital, analogue, and electromechanical components. Manufacture refers to using materials and tools to create project prototypes. Finally, community and sharing focuses on how an individual engages and shares with the digital making community.

Focusing on the process

One type of assessment that focuses on the learning process of young makers is the one which consists of documenting one’s own maker project journey. This has been recognised as a means for students to reflect upon their learning process, and therefore assess their own work (self-assessment). Documenting projects can also provide educators with significant evidence of individual learning and understanding.

“Reviewing the photographs that the students make while documenting their work allows for a different insight into their thinking and their ideas. When looking at the projects through the eyes of our students, we discover what they think is important, what they are discovering, what is new and exciting for them. We also get to see the focus and concentration in their approach to the work that is often captured unexpectedly or in spite of the enthusiasm that is also displayed”.

Another way of documenting maker projects and hence another method for evaluation, consists of setting up failure boxes.

Failure boxes are essentially stackable boxes that can hold items of different sizes. After each session, the learners are invited to put the items they have been working on into the boxes. The project/prototype has permission to stay out of the box only when the learners consider it shareable. When that stage is reached, the educator asks the learners to empty the box and reconstruct the evolution of the project by using the previous prototypes/failures as chapters. They are allowed to make photos, videos, write text, dramatise, dance etc, in order to explain what they did and how they feel about each step.

Assessing the final result: setting up a challenge

Challenges are a standard way of concluding a maker education learning session. Challenges allow participants to rate each other’s projects, and achieve objectives.

It is possible to rate both functionality and aesthetic, thus the range of maker projects that can be assessed via challenges is quite vast.

Challenges are an obvious way to assess the final result, however it can also represent an opportunity for educators to have the learners reflect on the processes that were conducive to their creations. For example, during the presentation of the final result, educators could prompt students to introduce the rest of the group to different prototypes they worked on, the reasons for the changes/improvements they made, or even to present the technical problems they faced during the production process.

Final tips

• Design the space it’s important to ensure successful and inclusive activities.
• Design content is developed with the interests of the participants in mind.
• Educational making activities is the key to understanding how children and young people explore their environment.
• A friendly space allows people to explore.
• We don’t have all the answers.
• We don’t know all the steps.
• We are here to stimulate with more questions, stimulate creativity, build bridges between knowledge and the physical world.
• DiT: Do it Together is the best way to learn. We is more than me.
• Circular economy: recycle, reuse, proximity materials, responsible consumption.
• Flexibility: not everything will go according to schedule, it rarely happens. We must have room to change plans and adapt to the changes that may arise.
• Celebrations: especially when working with children you have to balance the celebration of successes so that no one feels left out or discouraged.
• Sharing concepts: this is a good time to include cultural concepts such as teamwork, knowledge sharing, the importance of recycling, collaboration, etc.

Resources

• Make your life http://www.makeatuvida.net/ : is a non-profit association with social and educational nature, working in the territory that exists between the worlds of Design and Ecology. Your project, the recipe book is a source of inspiration: www.elrecetario.net
• Thingiverse www.thingiverse.com
• Wikifactory https://wikifactory.com
• Instructables www.instructables.com
• Inventables www.inventables.com

This methodological guide has been made by the consortium of the European Project, Makerspace for Inclusion Nº 2018-l-BE0S-KA205–002425, with the participation of the following associations:

Digijeunes (France), Timelab (Belgium), Horizonlab (Italy), Nod Makerspace (Romania), MakerConvent-Trànsit Projectes (Spain).