Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
• The “Making a Makerspace” (MM) program significantly improved children's STEM habits of mind. • The MM program had a notable positive impact on children's temperamental surgency. • The MM program effectively guides teachers in creating a positive learning environment that fosters children's creative thinking and making. • Makerspaces help foster children's STEM thinking and socioemotional skills in today's digital society. Makerspaces are used to promote classroom change and creativity for the 21 st century. Building on the learning theory of Constructionism, this intervention study used a curriculum intervention program, “Making a Makerspace” (MM), to integrate the makerspace into Chinese kindergartens. We used a quasi-experimental research design to evaluate the effects of this curriculum intervention, with 120 children enrolled in the experimental classrooms, while the other 111 children enrolled in the waitlist control classrooms. Teacher-report child performance ( N = 231) showed that the MM program resulted in significantly higher scores in children's STEM habits of mind in the intervention group, relative to the control group. Analyses of parent-report child behaviors revealed that there was a significant effect of the MM program on post-intervention temperamental surgency. Our evidence shows that such a scalable program encourages and guides teachers to build a positive learning environment for supporting young children's making and thinking in everyday preschool experiences. The makerspace further sets a solid foundation for the development of children's STEM thinking skills and socioemotional skills in a rapidly changing digital society.
Yang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.