Presentation Masterthesis, April 2019

1. WISSEN
TECHNIK
LEIDENSCHAFT
Analysis of an Open Workshop
Maker Days for Kids Event
Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Strasser, BSc

2. Agenda
Introduction
Making, Makers and Maker Spaces
Making with Children
Open Digital Workshop Bad Reichenhall
Maker Days for Kids Event at TU Graz
Evaluation Method
Evaluation Results
Hypothesis Evaluation
Conclusion
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3. Introduction
Vision of Seymour Papert
“The goal is to teach in such a way as to produce the
most learning from the least teaching.”
• Each children should have his own computer to use it as
an instrument for learning and enhancing skills such as
• Creativity
• Innovation
• Computational Thinking
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4. Introduction
• 1990s Lego Mindstorms was released that is based on Papert‘s book
„Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas“.
• Based on Papert‘s learning theory „Constructionism“
• Most efficient way of learning because participants will encounter
problems that they need to solve on their own
• Do-It-Yourself has already reached
the masses with the Ikea concept
• Information and Communications
Technology  Making
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5. Making, Makers and Maker Spaces
• Making  Process of creating technical artifacts
• Maker Spaces  Physical locations where Makers can access tools and
share their knowledge
• 1420 active Maker Spaces
• In general Making concept and
Maker Spaces are designed
for adults
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6. Making with Children
• Schön et al. introduced a novel concept of Making with children
• Constructionism can be used for setting and reaching individual
learning goals  Making is related to projects and student-centered
• Making a product  Learn new tools and concepts
• Every child can work in their own speed
• Place where failures are allowed to happen
• Making with children is mostly executed at temporary Maker Spaces
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7. Open Digital Workshop
• Concept was created by Schön et al. and is aligned to children
• Maker Days for Kids event in Bad Reichenhall (2015)
• Open Workshop Series  Children can join and leave workshops as
they want
• Different because
children needs
to be guided.
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8. Evaluation Results of Bad Reichenhall
• 67 attendees
• ~ 2.3 Workshops per day of each attendee
• Most interesting stations were Vinyl Cutter and 3D Printer
• 80.1% of all workshops were computer related and 19.9% Traditional
handcrafting related
• Average age was 10.9 years
• High participation of girls
• Girls are most attracted to creativity activities such as Light Painting and
Textiles
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9. Hypotheses of Bad Reichenhall
Gappmaier introduced six hypotheses that are based on the evaluation
results of the event at Bad Reichenhall
1. The most frequently visited workshops have a focus on Computers,
Electronic and New Media such as 3D-Printer and Vinyl-Cutter.
2. Pure Programming related workshops are less frequently visited.
3. The more days of attendance, the more workshops on average will be
visited by the individual participant.
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10. Hypotheses of Bad Reichenhall
4. Girls are less attracted to pure technical or computer science related
workshops such as 3D-Printing, soldering or programming.
5. Children are preferring adjacent stations when they move to other
workshops.
6. Girls are more attracted to stations that are supervised by female tutors
and peers.
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11. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Key Facts
• Children between 10 – 14 years
• Open workshops concept
• 2 workshop rooms with 18 stations
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12. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Thesis Motivation and Targets
• Motivation
• Understand how the event appeal to children
• Use statistical data to improve further events to attract certain interest
groups such as girls
• Targets
• Overview about related work that contains Making with children
• Summarization of the Maker Days for Kids Event at TU Graz
• Analysis and Evaluation of the event
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13. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Impressions
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14. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Coding Club
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15. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Robotic Club
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16. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Soldering
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17. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Lego Building
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18. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Lego City
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19. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Textile Manufacture
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20. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Crafting
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21. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Creativity Zones
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22. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Evaluation and Interpretation
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23. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Evaluation and Interpretation
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24. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Evaluation Challenges
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• Limits of manually data recording because of overload
• Vinyl Cutter and Modelling Corner
• Appearance of non-registered children
• Misaligned ID cards  Peers/Tutors asked for their ID

25. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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• 4 Days
• 18 Stations
• 118 Attendees
• 126 Workshops
• Total 179 Statistics
• Overall Overview
• Each station

26. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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27. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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28. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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29. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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30. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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31. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
General Statistics
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32. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Soldering Station Statistics
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33. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Soldering Station Statistics
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34. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Soldering Station Statistics
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35. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Soldering Station Statistics
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36. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Discussion
• Digital Fabrication Stations
• 51 Participants ( 42 Boys, 8 Girls)
• Most attractive to children that are between 11 and 13 years old
• Most attractive workshop was „Mache ein Spiel“ but there were
almost boys
• Most attractive workshop for girls was the „Hüpf Konsole für Pacman“
• Possibility to combine both workshops to attract more girls
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37. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Discussion
• Physical (Computing) Stations
• 298 Participants (194 Boys, 76 Girls)
• Most attractive to children that are between 10 and 13 years old
• Girls were most attracted by the Textile Manufacture workshops and
the Coding Club workshops  Milk Monster, Oracle Monster
• Attractiveness of workshops can be increased by introducing
creativity
• Girls can also be attracted for abstract programming by introducing
creativity that was seen at the „Programmierbare Stickmaschine“
workshops
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38. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Discussion
• General
• Participants at the age of 14 were underpresented
• Marketing campaign did not attract them
• Low representation of girls
• Marketing campaign should be aligned to girls  Emphasize creativity
• All participants visited about 4 workshops  Every gender and age
felt comfortable
• Most attractive stations were 3D-Printing and Soldering
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39. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Hypotheses Evaluation
1. The most frequently visited workshops have a focus on
Computers, Electronic and New Media such as 3D-Printer and
Vinyl-Cutter.
Still Valid  3D Printing and Soldering most visited stations
2. Pure Programming related workshops are less frequently visited.
Still Valid  Hardware related programming workshops more popular
3. The more days of attendance, the more workshops on average will
be visited by the individual participant.
Invalid Participants visited less workshops the other days
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40. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Hypotheses Evaluation
4. Girls are less attracted to pure technical or computer science related
workshops such as 3D-Printing, soldering or programming.
Invalid  Most attractive workshops were Crafting, Elektronik Basteln, Milk
Monster, Oracle Monster and Programmierbare Stickmaschine
5. Children are preferring adjacent stations when they move to other
workshops.
Invalid  More movements to the other workshop room than to adjacent
stations
6. Girls are more attracted to stations that are supervised by female tutors
and peers.
No Statement possible  Robotic Club and Soldering Station was guided by
a male and was well participated by girls
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41. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Novel Hypotheses
1. The more days of attendance, the least workshops will be visited
by the individual participant.
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42. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Novel Hypotheses
2. Children at younger ages (11 years) are attracted to Electronic and
with higher age (13) they get more attracted to software
programming.
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43. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Novel Hypotheses
2. Children at younger ages (11 years) are attracted to Electronic and
with higher age (13) they get more attracted to software
programming.
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44. Maker Days for Kids Event in 2018 at TU Graz
Novel Hypotheses
3. Girls are visiting less workshops than boys.
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45. Conclusion
• Evaluation results clearly shows that the event was very successful
• 119 attendees
• 126 workshops
• Feedback of the workshops from the tutors/peers were overall good
• Girls were presented with 28%  Attract more girls for the next events
• Coding Club clearly shows that creativity can increase the interests of girls in
STEAM related activities
• Two hypotheses were confirmed, three were voided and one could not be
evaluated
• Three novel hyoptheses were introduced
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