Abstract
Makerspaces and Fab Labs are growing in number all over the world, holding the potential to empower children and adolescents. They form an important pathway to provide young people with access to digital manufacturing technologies while fostering self-determination, collaboration, and creativity. We explore how the engagement in Fab Lab based leisure maker activities may be promoted, taking into account both the perspectives of adolescents and the potential of surrounding systems. For this, we conducted focus group discussions with N = 61 non-maker, adolescent girls and boys from 6th to 9th grade, to scrutinize hindering and promoting factors of their engagement in leisure maker activities, and to explore their preferences regarding the involvement of parents, teachers and peers while considering the ecological sustainability of the activities. A reflexive thematic analysis identified the hindering and promoting factors across different aspects of maker activities such as the purpose, location and setting, content, and learning processes. Implications for the promotion and design of maker activities, as well as implications for further research, are discussed.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
