Makerspaces in Teacher Education as Hubs for (Re)Designing Learning and Teaching
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21240/constr/2025/keynote.XKeywords:
Makerspaces, Teacher Education, Teaching as design practice, Artefact-based learningAbstract
Much work on makerspaces has focused on bringing maker education directly into schools, but with limited success. Prior research shows that the challenge is not technical but cultural: constructionist learning like maker education can only flourish when schools create conditions that support new ways of teaching and learning. In this keynote, I argue that one way to build such cultural conditions is by strengthening teaching as a design practice, and that institutional makerspaces in universities of teacher education can serve as vital infrastructures for this work. I illustrate this argument through two case studies from my work: (1) teachers designing pedagogical objects for their own classrooms, which fostered their agency and collaborative reflection, and (2) the design of a novel artefact-based learning sequence by a professional team, modeled in classrooms, which expanded teachers’ pedagogical imagination. Together, these strands of work show how institutional makerspaces can empower teachers as designers and inspire ambitious innovations, positioning them as hubs for cultural change in teaching.
References
Blikstein, P. (2013). Digital fabrication and ‘making’ in education: The democratization of invention. In J. Walter-Herrmann & C. Büching (Eds.), FabLabs: Of machines, makers and inventors (pp. 203–222). Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript. https://doi.org/10.14361/transcript.9783839423820.203
Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Learning Policy Institute.
Engeström, Y. (2014). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Cambridge University Press.
diSessa, A. A., & Cobb, P. (2004). Ontological innovation and the role of theory in design experiments. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 77–103. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls1301_4
Fernández, C., Hochgreb-Haegele, T., Eloy, A., & Blikstein, P. (2023). Beyond “having fun” as evidence of learning: A longitudinal case study of a teacher’s evolving conception of hands-on science activities. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 32(2), 241–255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-022- 10012-1
Fernandez, C., & Yoshida, M. (2012). Lesson study: A Japanese approach to improving mathematics teaching and learning. Routledge.
Godhe, A. L., Lilja, P., & Selwyn, N. (2019). Making sense of making: Critical issues in the integration of maker education into schools. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 28(3), 317–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2019.1610040
Halverson, E. R., & Sheridan, K. (2014). The maker movement in education. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 495–504. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.4.34j1g68140382063
Helliwell, T., & Ng, O. L. (2022). Imagining possibilities: Innovating mathematics (teacher) education for sustainable futures. Research in Mathematics Education, 24(2), 128-149.
Hiebert, J., & Stigler, J. W. (2000). A proposal for improving classroom teaching: Lessons from the TIMSS video study. The Elementary School Journal, 101(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1086/499656
Kumpulainen, K., Kajamaa, A., & Rajala, A. (2018). Understanding educational change: Agency-structure dynamics in a novel design and making environment. Digital Education Review, (33), 26-38.
Laurillard, D. (2013). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. Routledge.
Maurer, B., & Ingold, S. (2021). Making im Schulalltag: konzeptionelle Grundlagen und Entwicklungsschritte. kopaed.
Peppler, K., Halverson, E., & Kafai, Y. (2016). Makeology: Makerspaces as learning environments (Vol. 1). Routledge.
Quintana-Ordorika, A., Garay-Ruiz, U., & Portillo-Berasaluce, J. (2024). A Systematic Review of the Literature on Maker Education and Teacher Training. Education Sciences, 14(12), 1310. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14121310
Rodríguez-Robles, C., del Pino Rodriguez, L., Peña Trapero, N., Serván-Núñez, M. J., & Soto Gómez, E. (2025). Lesson study and the challenges of initial teacher education in Europe: keys to sustainability. A literature review. International Journal for Lesson & Learning Studies, 14(2), 153-170.
Stigler, J. W., & Hiebert, J. (2009). The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world’s teachers for improving education in the classroom. Free Press.
Svihla, V., Gines, M., & Yang, Y. (2014). Teachers as learners then designers: Shifting from instructionist to constructionist approaches. In Proceedings of FabLearn 2014 (pp. 77–80). ACM.
Sivia, A. & MacMath, S. (2016). Examining the university-profession divide: An inquiry into a teacher education program’s practices. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 7(2), Article 6.
Downloads
Published
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Engin Bumbacher (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
