Enhancing Educators’ Cultural and Digital Literacies through Makerspace Development Activities

Abstract

Makerspace communities enhance STEM literacy while valuing assimilation of Hispanic and Indigenous culture, language, traditions, and ways of knowing that connect the purpose of STEM disciplines to real world uses by honoring past funds of knowledge. This study investigates the La Frontera mobile makerspace program’s impact on educators’ self-efficacy toward integrating technology and culturally responsive teaching using pop-up activities. Early outcomes indicate increased interest of emerging technologies and understanding of culturally responsive teaching. The program includes strong community partnerships connecting K12 schools, community college, university, museums, and industry to an isolated area spanning a vast region along the Texas-Mexico border.

1. Introduction

Mobile makerspaces assist with building capacity beyond the university to assist with educator professional development toward using technologies and assist with providing connections to engineering outreach and engagement [1]. The dynamic nature of makerspace activity may help sustain faculty curiosity/intellectual growth through the inherent challenges. Mobile makerspaces offer strong internal outreach opportunities, with educators’ responding positively to professional development centered on digital and design literacies offered in a mobile makerspace environment perhaps due to the creative and flexible approaches during pop-up activities. Mobile makerspace pop-up activities increase awareness and understanding of digital literacies in an active learning atmosphere [2]. This provides a mobile benefit to remote institutions serving underrepresented minority (URM) communities. Digital literacies in mobile environments often incorporate use of creative mobile technologies: 3D modeling, fabrication, robotics, laser cutting and lendable technologies. In addition to providing increased access, mobile makerspace has shown to positively connect to engineering outreach, increasing diversity within engineering education tasks [1]. Mobile makerspace have shown to excite diverse audiences but often lack robust participation in curricular models. Research needs include contributing mobile makerspace curriculum approaches in which improved participation through pop-up challenge layout and instructional foster participation beyond excitement to strong engagement [3]. The La Frontera mobile STEM pilot project provides for the delivery of makerspace popup activities to allow for personalized expressions of interests and values, promoting higher engagement and interest. Mobile makerspaces will mitigate isolation issues in STEM education. Advancing post-secondary success of underrepresented minority communities through the availability to Indigenous and/or Hispanic serving institutions (HSI) in rural communities can significantly positively influence and increase the number of URM attaining postsecondary STEM degrees. [4]. Current post-secondary institutions serving underrepresented minorities often lack strong STEM mentorship systems along with many students feeling culturally isolated in STEM undergraduate programs. HSI’s represent a critical component serving the “marginalized majority” by focusing on service to an many first generation Hispanic students, targeting individual student needs [4]. This pilot project examines how mentorship experiences within a makerspace community may contribute toward the development of self-efficacy among URM and address gaps to refine the scientific communities’ understanding on how engagement within makerspace environments is not only established within URM remote communities but maintained to establish a culture of inquiry and hands-on approaches beyond informal learning. Establishing and supporting a makerspace culture continues to gain momentum and attention from policymakers, leaders, and scholars, but literature lacks a deep understanding of the maker communities and how they can be leveraged among families to support learning [5]. Broadening the use of evaluation instruments beyond measuring the impact of middle school and high school STEM programs would provide invaluable insights as to how informal learning approaches might serve to measure informal learning approaches on URM remote students as well as larger community efforts connecting K-12, community college, and university programs through a makerspace community effort.

2. STEM engagement through mentoring in a makerspace

Enhancing the relevance of STEM through stronger STEM programming that values assimilation of Hispanic and Indigenous culture, language, traditions, and ways of knowing through a transactional process could benefit underrepresented communities. A mentoring approach through “shared interactions, experiences, and mutual exchanges” with the La Frontera Mobile STEM lab is introducing STEM faculty and educators to culturally appropriate outreach strategies. Strong STEM mentorships over a two-year period have shown to benefit underrepresented students with improving scientific efficacy and scientific identity, with students feeling as if they belong to a community of scientists [6]. Gaps in achievements, representation and interest in STEM are persistent across all levels of educational achievement, with African Americans, Latinos, and Indigenous populations representing only 6% of the total STEM labor workforce, with URM representing 25% of the total population in the United States [7, 8].

Outcomes from the pandemic presents an opportunity to improve technology training postsecondary institutions for many Hispanic and Indigenous students. Enhancing the relevance of STEM through stronger STEM programming that values assimilation of Hispanic and Indigenous culture, language, traditions, and ways of knowing through a transactional process could benefit underrepresented communities. A mentoring approach through “shared interactions, experiences, and mutual exchanges” could assist STEM faculty in identifying culturally appropriate outreach strategies [9]. Transformative STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning spaces have grown rapidly in schools, universities, libraries, and museums as “Learning Labs” or “Makerspaces.” These spaces are designed to encourage deep engagement with STEM-integrated content, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration while sparking curiosity [10].

Makerspaces are informal sites for creative expressions in STEAM (sciences, technology, the arts, engineering, and mathematics) in which learner’s blend digital and physical technologies in an informal learning environment to share with a wider community [11]. Makerspace emphasizes learning through direct experiences, hands-on projects, inventions, and is based on a constructionist learning theory [12]. The La Frontera project outcomes would assist in addressing a gap in literature investigating how to establish a STEM culture through faculty development beyond grant funding. Beavers et al. [13] project leveraged 3D printing in a library to first engage and create interest in fabrication programs. STEM faculty previously viewed the library as an independent unit or place, disconnected from academic programs. However, providing a fabrication printer formed a grassroots effort to engage the community in pop-up challenge activities, creating interest groups and encouraging administration to support a formal makerspace area. Faculty worked with support staff and student workers to create pop-up makerspace activities, hosted a mini-maker faire, provided financial incentives to students to participate in pop-up activities and the maker faire, supported robotics and makerspace camps, which created a culture of STEM engineering engagement, educator professional development, and resulted in improved STEM undergraduate programing. Outcomes brought about increased engagement, use of student support library services by faculty and students, and improved teaching practices [10]. It has been observed through a strong scientific community mentoring plan, quality STEM engagement has increased along with opportunities for educator development to STEM faculty, K-12 teachers, and preservice teachers. Program outcomes contribute toward understanding how remote mobile makerspace programs may impact isolated URM STEM enrollment, retention, self-efficacy and persistence in STEM. Examining persistence through a lens of social influence will address gaps exploring relationships between the scientific community, makerspace community, industry, faculty, and mentoring and how relationships might be leveraged as an agent approach toward social change. Literature has shown the development of efficacy, identity, and values predicts URM persistence but the impact of makerspace on engagement in STEM have limited support in literature [6].

Mobile makerspaces assist with building capacity beyond the university to assist with educator professional development toward using technologies and assist with providing connections to engineering outreach and engagement [1]. The dynamic nature of makerspace activity may help sustain faculty curiosity/intellectual growth through the inherent challenges. Mobile makerspaces offer strong internal outreach opportunities, with educators’ responding positively to professional development centered on digital and design literacies offered in a mobile makerspace environment perhaps due to the creative and flexible approaches during pop-up activities. Mobile makerspace pop-up activities increase awareness and understanding of digital literacies in an active learning atmosphere [2]. Digital literacies in mobile environments often incorporate use of creative mobile technologies: 3D modeling, fabrication, robotics, laser cutting and lendable technologies. In addition to providing increased access, mobile makerspaces have been shown to positively connect to engineering outreach, increasing diversity within engineering education tasks [1] while exciting diverse audiences, but often lack robust participation in curricular models. Research needs include contributing mobile makerspace curriculum approaches in which improved participation through pop-up challenge layout and instructional foster participation beyond excitement to strong engagement [3].

3. STEM literacy divide

Accessibility issues can no longer be defined in terms of physical access. The pandemic has shown that education organizations must approach the use of distance education and digital learning from an equity lens. Age does not define digital fluencies or abilities to apply digital skills to communicate effectively. The term ‘digital divide’ traditionally was used to describe inequities in access to devices and broadband, but this definition fails to capture gaps in educational experiences, curricula, social, cultural, and economic realities of many [14]. Texas ranked highest in the nation, with 34% of students lacking broadband connection and 24% of students lacking access to a device [15]. Post COVID-19 presents the immediate need to rethink digital leadership training approaches to begin to address the digital divide presented by lack of quality training, equity and accessibility issues in isolated areas. This project addresses the digital divide challenges facing remote underrepresented and underserved Indigenous and Hispanic communities with limited access to technology and faculty development opportunities. This would be accomplished through a community mobile makerspace program aimed at addressing the digital divide and digital literacy needs of STEM educators. The term ‘digital divide’ traditionally has been used to describe inequities in access to devices and broadband, but this definition fails to capture gaps in educational experiences, curricula, social, cultural, and economic realities of many [14]. This issue has long been debated in literature but school closures in isolated regions during the pandemic magnified preexisting socio-economic and education disparities on a massive scale, revealing large inequities in access to resources and learning quality [16]. Schools must begin to truly identify gaps in accessibility to include physical access, technology mediums used, equity, resources, digital learning, and digital literacy experiences.

While remote areas of Texas face a digital divide, national employment projections in STEM reported by the Bureau of Labor forecast overall growth in STEM fields to increase by 11% with Austin, Texas leading national STEM indexes over the next 5 years [17]. Nearly 28% of all occupations in the Austin metro area require a bachelor’s degree, with salaries of occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree double the salary of a position requiring a high school diploma [18]. Seven out of 10 job occupations identified in the Bureau of Labor Statistics report were computer related, with mathematical science occupations expected to grow by 28.2%, with top occupation growth among statisticians, research analysists, cartographers, forensic scientists, biomedical engineers, mathematicians, computer systems analysists, software developers, actuaries, and information security analysts. In addition, in that same report, over 73% of STEM occupations required a bachelors’ degree, while only 21% of overall occupations required a bachelor’s degree [17].

Main factors contributing to the digital inequities may not be identified as physical access only but rather a divide in digital literacy skills to the extent in which populations are divided and excluded [19]. The pandemic has presented educators with a renewed insight on the importance of participation in digital learning development, as now they are aware of their own digital skills, abilities, and limitations [20]. This presents an opportunity for organizations to foster stronger development approaches and to identify gaps in digital competencies, teacher capabilities, and abilities to use technology to communicate well, or digital fluencies. Schools can look to the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE) standards, Common Framework for Teaching Digital Competence or TPACK as a starting point. Investment in technology training cannot be an afterthought during the strategic plan process and is a required component to equip students with future-ready skills. Measuring the quality of teacher training and resources can provide insights on how financial allocation of professional development influence URM student engagement, STEM literacy, use, and academic performance. Makerspaces provide an informal space for active learning outside of the classroom to facilitate self-directed learning opportunities for faculty development in which faculty collaborate with others to learn about digital resources and technology approaches to improve integration efforts in the classroom [2]. Makerspace environments provide a safe place for educators to participate in trial-and-error experimentation of new technology tools, for learning and investigating within a makerspace community [21]. The La Frontera Mobile STEM program expands upon Miller’s study that investigated the effect of professional development on educator perception of integrating technologies with STEM. The NASA funded Makers’ Guild study incorporated 2D and 3D technologies during STEM makerspace pop-up activities in which participants reported a statically significant increase in self-reported competence in technology integration, the use of the World Wide Web, and Emerging Technologies for Student Learning as measured by the TPSA C-21 [11].

4. Methodology

The La Frontera mobile STEM program is addressing the following question: How does informal learning through mobile makerspace pop-up activities impact self-efficacy of URM undergraduate students and STEM faculty from isolated communities? The La Frontera Mobile Makerspace pilot project provides for the delivery of makerspace workshops and speakers from STEM industries and STEM organizations using either a mobile lab or a makerspace classroom in which pop-up activities allow for personalized expressions of interests and values of faculty, promoting higher engagement and interest. The La Frontera Mobile STEM program works in conjunction with the Noyce en la Frontera National Science foundation Track 1 program, which provides scholarships to math and biology majors seeking a teaching certification at the middle school or high school level. Both programs represent a collaborative partnership with a local community college, surrounding high needs K12 schools located on the Texas Mexico border, the Science Mill Museum, and additional community outreach programs. The Noyce en la Frontera program pairs URM preservice STEM teacher with a highly qualified STEM mentor teacher or faculty member. The program provides faculty development toward becoming a mentor, culturally responsive teaching approaches, and digital literacy training incorporating the Universal Design for Learning framework and employs tactile technologies to assist preservice teachers in their self-efficacy of teaching with technology using informal learning popup activities through the mobile program. The program introduces preservice teachers, other educators, and mentors to the possibilities of incorporating stronger digital learning approaches to improve engagement and expression of knowledge. After participating in a series of workshops, Noyce scholars along with mentors utilize the mobile STEM program with collaborative schools or public libraries located in isolated areas along the southwest between El Paso and Eagle Pass, a 400-mile or 640-kilometer area. The La Frontera program financially supports faculty development by providing stipends to faculty and K12 certified secondary educators enrolled in a mentoring program to lead co-developed makerspace mobile events, lectures, and workshops. Mentoring is facilitated through a partnership between STEM and Education faculty at both the university and community college; the Science Mill Museum; and the Texas Workforce Commission. Program activities have been designed to address future-ready skills and to address achievement gaps by improving relationships between STEM K-12 programs, community college STEM student populations, STEM majors attending the university, faculty teaching STEM or STEM related topics and industry in rural Southwest Texas.

The La Frontera pilot program hypothesizes that facilitating improved faculty development that is focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) intervention approaches using an informal learning creative space will serve to improve retention, self-efficacy, STEM identity, and values of undergraduate STEM preservice teachers and STEM faculty as measured by the Teacher Beliefs and Attitudes Toward STEM (T-STEM) Survey pre to post using Qualtrics [22]. The TPSA C-21 is used to measure the impact of technology integration training on teacher self-efficacy, investigating six factors: Email, World Wide Web, Integrated Applications, Teaching with Technology, Emerging Technologies, for Student Learning, and Emerging Technologies for Teacher Development, and reports a Chronbach’s Alpha between .75 and 1.00, with .88 reported for the entire scale [23, 24, 25]. The TPSA-C-21 is a 34 item survey used for Miller’s NASA funded Makers’ Guild program, which reported that makerspace development significantly impacted teachers’ self-efficacy (p < .05) in emerging technologies and teacher professional development programs [11].

In addition, activities focused on investing in faculty development that integrates DEI to improve culturally responsive intervention would increase self-efficacy of STEM faculty to integrate technology in STEM content courses as measured by Technology Proficiency Self-Assessment for twenty-first Century Learning (TPSA C-21) [22]. Faculty and STEM preservice teachers participating in the makerspace workshop development receive training in Culturally Responsive Intervention, Emerging Technologies to Support Teaching and Learning, and Project Based-Learning through Makerspace Pop-Up Activities. The mentor program includes faculty development focused on the following topics through a face-to-face summer training program and additional online training made available through Canvas: Advancing Equity & Inclusion, Cultural Literacy in Teaching and Learning, The Importance of Family Support, Resources for Makerspace Mentoring Programs, and Incorporating Digital Techniques in Teaching STEM. Extended faculty development is offered within the mobile program that incorporates advanced technology to include virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics, artificial intelligence, social media, creation technologies, and fabrication technologies.

Data is collected using Qualtrics to include the following evaluation components: makerspace participant surveys, TPSA C-21 preservice and mentor pre to posttest survey responses, T-STEM preservice and mentor pre to posttest survey, Culturally Responsive Teaching survey pre to posttest survey response, attendance, STEM enrollment in the teacher preparation program, retention rates, and graduation rates [21, 22, 24, 25, 26]. Pretest data collection of preservice and mentor participants is administered during an orientation session prior to receiving training and participating in makerspace activities over a 2 year period of time. During the last semester of the 2-year program, posttest data collection of preservice and mentor participants occurs during an exit interview.

5. Results

Early outcomes of the La Frontera Mobile STEM program provide insight as to how makerspace pop-up activities might improve faculty development approaches and to improve faculty self-efficacy and abilities to integrate educational technology into formal learning experiences serving remote and isolated URM populations. Activities designed in the Summer and Fall of 2022 by museum STEM teachers and the La Frontera research team resulted in 8 popup stations designed to introduce participants to future ready skills needed in the agricultural industry All activities encompass a career awareness component, which is available in both Spanish and English. Tactile components included in the makerspace program incorporated a cardboard challenge, fabrication printing, Arduino watering station, wind wattage challenge, drone cattle search, microbit weather station, cacti catastrophe, and a citizen scientist challenge. All activities do require electricity but do not require broadband access, as many areas located along the Texas Mexico border lack connectivity. After participating in a 6-month training, Noyce scholars began teaching informally through the mobile program. For many scholars, this was their first introduction to teaching.

The La Frontera Mobile STEM program has reached over 3348 participants since programing began in January 2023. The mobile van has traveled 2380 miles or 3830 kilometers serving several isolated communities with additional programing planned in the summer of 2023. The mobile van has visited several middle schools, the community college, university, and surrounding public libraries. Noyce scholars and mentors are learning how to incorporate coding, fabrication printing, drones, and multimedia while teaching in a fun and low stress environment. Participants are asked to participate in a program survey to investigate their attitude or engagement of activities. Seven Noyce preservice teachers, six mentors, and additional faculty have participated in training events. All seven Noyce preservice teachers along with STEM faculty have facilitated mobile makerspace activities.

During the last academic year, the program is lending considerable support toward achieving the goal of improving current support systems for STEM teaching enrollment, retention, and faculty development by strengthening relationships between institutions, departments, and the community at large. All participants were invited to participate in a pretest data collection. Although sample sizes continue to be small, the pre-test portion included 13 participants, 7 Noyce scholars and 6 mentors. Not all mentors have participated in hosting mobile pop up activities but all have participated in the faculty development training. All Noyce scholars have participated in hosting a mobile STEM lab event at either the community college, university, public library, or secondary school. T-STEM analysis revealed that twenty-first Century Learning Attitudes found a significant finding (p < .05) that preservice teacher reported a higher confidence toward teaching in the twenty-first century skills compared to mentor teachers as measured by the T-STEM survey. TPSA C-21 analysis determined that mentor self-perceived competence toward using the World Wide Web, teaching while integrating technology to be higher than preservice teacher perceptions, with results educationally significant (p < .05) in the area in two areas spreadsheet and newsletter. Data analysis indicated that Teacher Efficacy and Attitudes toward STEM, pretest data reported preservice teachers’ efficacy and beliefs toward having the necessary skills to teach as significant (p < .05) compared to faculty. Data indicated that males self-reported a higher efficacy toward the World Wide Web while females reported a higher efficacy toward teaching with technology. Analysis of culturally responsive teaching revealed a significant finding (p < .05) suggesting that science content teachers report a higher culturally responsive attitude toward inclusion and attitudes compared to math content teachers. Further, science content teachers reported a higher use of culturally responsive practices compared to math content teachers. The teacher preparation program has experienced a strong increase in enrollment of math majors seeking a teaching certification. It is expected that the pilot project will exceed the Noyce en la Frontera grant goals of increasing the number of highly qualified STEM teachers by 10% as the program has doubled in size over the last academic year. Excitement of the La Frontera Mobile STEM van may be a contributing factor toward improving interest, enrollment, and retention of STEM majors seeking a teaching certification.

6. Conclusion

The La Frontera Mobile STEM Program is contributing toward understanding how remote mobile makerspace programs may influence isolated faculty serving unrepresented minority populations. Examining persistence through a lens of social influence will address gaps between the scientific community, makerspace community, industry, faculty, and mentoring and how relationships might be leveraged as an agent approach toward social change. Literature has shown the development of efficacy, identity, and values predicts URM persistence but the impact of makerspace on engagement in STEM have limited support in literature [5]. This pilot project examines how mentorship experiences within a makerspace community may contribute toward the development of self-efficacy among URM and address gaps to refine the scientific communities’ understanding on how engagement within makerspace environments is not only established within URM remote communities but maintained to establish a culture of inquiry and hands-on approaches beyond informal learning. Broadening the use of evaluation instruments beyond measuring the impact of middle school and high school STEM programs would provide invaluable insights as to how informal learning approaches might serve to measure informal learning approaches on URM remote students as well as larger community efforts connecting K-12, community college, and university programs through a makerspace community effort. Hands-on learning experiences that incorporate literacies within a makerspace may be less intimidating and abstract for underserved students, families, community and faculty. Refocusing mobile makerspace outreach efforts to provide faculty development to support active learning and discovery would begin to address gaps identified in literature [2]. Outcomes of the pilot program consider how culturally responsive makerspace programs might impact teaching intervention approaches among underrepresented and remote populations. The impact of the pilot project has great potential toward improving faculty development so that diverse participation and persistence in STEM careers increases, improved STEM education and faculty development, increased public scientific literacy and engagement in STEM, and could lead to a broader collaboration and partnership among industry, community colleges, Hispanic serving institutions assisting isolated populations.

Acknowledgments

Dr. Jennifer Miller currently serves as the PI for the Noyce en la Frontera grant. The Noyce en la Frontera program, award 2050173, has received positive evaluation results from both the external evaluator and program officer. The PI, Dr. Miller, has received several NASA funding awards and STEM education grants and served as a graduate research assistant for the NSF funded Middle Schoolers Save the World project with the University of North Texas while earning her Ph.D.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Notes/thanks/other declarations

The author wishes to thank the National Science Foundation, Sul Ross State University Texas State System administration, the Science Mill Museum, and countless educators who continue to embrace STEM through makerspace experiences.