Paper presented at the 2nd Annual International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces (ISAM 2017), Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University.
ABSTRACT: As the Maker movement has grown in general popularity during the last decade and a half, so too have Making and Makerspaces garnered increased recognition within education. Accordingly, the field of research on the role of Making within education has similarly expanded. This paper presents a survey of research on Making in education. The goal of this summary is to first map out the larger landscape of research on Making and to then specifically situate research on undergraduate work in academic Makerspaces within that landscape. While other researchers present more comprehensive literature reviews, they do not focus on undergraduate Making. Certain areas within this map have been extensively documented while others call for more thorough investigation and research. In particular, the literature is rich with work describing the design, founding, and facilitation of Makerspaces on college campuses. However, data-driven studies of student experiences within those spaces, as well as consideration of student populations beyond engineering majors, are rare and present opportunities for valuable and fruitful future research.