Evaluation of maker culture projects. A comparative study between Mexico, Brazil and Argentina

CÁNOVAS HERRERA, GISELA; SAFERSTEIN, EZEQUIEL ANDRÉS; SLIMOVICH, ANA; SZPILBARG, DANIELA; REIMAN, MARIELA

Conferencia; FabLearn Conference Latin America; 2019

Fab Learn

In the digital transformation that we are going through, especially in recent years, the development of artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, internet of things and big data, amongothers, resonate more and more intensely. How do these emerging technologies impact on childhood? How can technology contribute to the improvement of education in Latin America?The Disney TinkerLab project introduces innovative ways of learning, focusing on the skills and abilities that today are considered indispensable for the full development of children and lay the foundations of ?learning to learn?: digital literacy, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. The central axis of the project is transmedia storytelling: an invitation to tell transmedia stories, using different platforms, with the purpose of stimulating the development of skills and fostering the creative expression of children through digital media. Disney TinkerLab is a proposal that fuses STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) with making, playing and narratives, using different platforms, styles and digital media. Most STEAM projects focus on robotics and programming. However, this proposal went further, given that the methodologies of maker spaces converge with multi-platform narratives that inspire communication processes and skills that are little explored in schools. This combination opens the doors to innovation and gives answers to literacy in the digital age, to form curious, creative, critical children who can communicate their ideas. Among its main findings, the evaluation showed that the project had a positive impact on the subjectivities of boys and girls, who broadened their horizons of expectations regarding their aspirations and vocations. In addition, the characteristics of this proposal favored that the girls appropriate the knowledge and put themselves in a situation of parity: they learned about electricity, they asked questions, they programmed and handled the computer and the other devices. Evidence has also been generated to argue that maker proposals, which combine digital and analogue components, create the conditions to promote teamwork, creativity and participation in a collaborative and critical way, through activity styles, relationship modality and the shaping of an enabling environment.