The Knowledge Networks in a Makerspace: the Topologies of Collaboration

Abstract

The introduction of makerspaces in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education caused new challenges in research: learning in this innovative environment and the exchange of knowledge. The collaboration is the essence of most parts of activities in these spaces, and the exchange of information is the way to learning. It is usual to analyze the collaboration only among human actors. It is also usual to forget the role of non-human actors in this process. This paper analyzes the role of human and non-human actors in a maker activity. The teachers and researchers proposed a challenge to High School students in Brazil where the students were instructed to build a bag to transport some screws. During the process, some videos were made and later tools of video analyses and Social Network Analyses were used to produce topologies of information exchanges among the teacher, students, and artifacts. The results showed that both artifacts and environment layout play an important role in this process.