Australian and Indonesian primary students^ engagement and understanding of STEM using the Makerspace: A comparative study Rachel Sheffield1*, Susan Blackley1, Rekha Koul1, Yuli Rahmawati2, Ella Fitriani2
1School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Australia
2Department of Chemistry Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Indonesia
Abstract
Research across the world has determined that core discipline areas continue to be taught separately in school subjects with little or no integration (Blackley & Howell, 2015). Students^ immersion would evidence authentic, integrated STEM education in ^rich^ cross-curricular tasks as a preferred way of learning. Using a Makerspace approach, researchers have created a community of experts through workshop training sessions. Then the ^experts^ have run workshops and provided opportunities for students to apply their subject knowledge to create hands-on, engaging projects with a STEM and maker influence. This paper examines the experiences and learning of primary-aged 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. They then used these skills to support primary children using what has been termed as a Makerspace approach. The Wigglebots project involved 385 primary school students in Australia and Indonesia, focusing on their skills and knowledge of technology and science in creating a ^wigglebot^ and then completing a survey which studied confidence, engagement, and identification and application of scientific knowledge. The results determined that the Makerspace hands-on approach was extremely effective in engaging students in the STEM space. All the students surveyed were able to create the bots and work collaboratively in groups mentored by the pre-service teachers. Different groups of students in Australia reported different levels of engagement at slightly lower levels than the Indonesian students, whilst the Australian students were more able to represent and explain the underpinning science.
Keywords: STEM, Makerspace, primary school students, Australia, Indonesia, pre-service teachers
