Making the Maker: A Means-to-an-Ends approach to nurturing the Maker mindset in elementary-aged children
In this article, we present a new direction for the role of Making for children. Beyond the use of Making to teach specific STEM concepts as is common in prior work, we propose that Making activities should be designed with the focus of instilling a Maker mindset in children. Our target is elementary-school-level children aged 8 to 11. We present an approach that conceptualizes Making as a Means-to-an-Ends to nurture a Maker mindset and identity in children. The approach was embodied in a carefully-designed storytelling Making kit called the Maker Theater, and two Maker workshops for children in the target age range. Our analysis goal in this article was to investigate how the potential for a Maker mindset/identity formation may be manifested in childrens attitudes and behaviors. Guided by a theoretical framework of three key determinants of the Maker mindset (self-efficacy, motivation and interest), we analyzed workshop data using qualitative coding methods to derive thematic indicators. We discuss our contributions and the value of our findings for the childcomputer interaction community.
making maker mindset children storytelling electronics self-identity