Development of novel-engineering-based maker education instructional model

Abstract

Attaining equitable education for all is one of the sustainable development goals. Not only the gap of education between urban and rural students but also the gap of access to information and communications technology also exists. Thus, an effort to resolve this gap is necessary. This study combines novel engineering, which is the fusion of engineering and literacy educational methods with maker education, to create a sustainable model of maker education. Through this process, an instructional model for a novel engineering-based maker education is proposed that would enable the utilization of the model in rural elementary school environment. To achieve this, this study analyzed the literature regarding maker education, novel engineering, and design thinking to develop, draft, and verify internal validity through an expert’s review and usability evaluation. In addition, this study includes an example class for rural elementary students with application of the model to verify the model’s external validity and confirm that the model significantly improved the maker mindset. Finally, this study proposes final instructional model by modifying and improving the draft based on the recommendations derived from the validity verification process. The proposed instructional model was developed as a suitable form for rural school students, which can use low-cost teaching tools to lower the entry barrier to information and communications technology education. The model process developed in this study has the advantage of raising convergence problem-solving abilities and the maker mindset, in terms of a making project that fuses literature and engineering, among students.