Australian and Indonesian primary students’ engagement with STEM using a makerspace approach: A comparative study
Rachel Sarah Sheffield, Susan Ellen Blackley, Rekha Bhan Koul, Yuli Rahmawati, Ella Fitriani · AIP conference proceedings · 2024
Research has found that core discipline areas continue to be taught separately as school subjects with little or no integration [1].However, students' immersion in authentic, integrated STEM education in "rich" cross-curricular tasks is an aspirational way of learning.Using a Makerspace approach, the researchers created a community of experts, comprising pre-service teachers, through workshop training sessions.They then provided opportunities for school students to apply their subject knowledge to create hands-on, engaging artifacts influenced by an integrated STEM approach and Maker influence.This paper examines the experiences of primary school students who participated in a STEM-based project.A model of reflective identity formation was used to support the hands-on learning of pre-service teachers in Australia and Indonesia.The Wigglebots project engaged 385 primary school students from Australia and Indonesia, emphasizing their technological and scientific skills and knowledge by tasking them with creating a 'wiggle bot.' Following the completion of the project, the students were asked to complete a survey that gauged their confidence, engagement, and ability to identify and apply scientific knowledge.The results revealed that the Makerspace hands-on approach successfully engaged the students in STEM education.Moreover, all the surveyed students successfully created the bots and collaborated efficiently in groups mentored by pre-service teachers.Groups of students in Australia reported engagement at slightly lower levels than the Indonesian students; however, the Australian students were more able to represent and explain the underpinning science concepts.