Experts describe maker education as activities relating to the construction of artifacts that encourage learning through teamwork, problem-solving, and innovation. Teachers in recent years have been turning to maker-centered learning strategies to develop 21st century skills along with emphasizing strong content knowledge focusing on creation and creativity. Previous maker-based learning research focused primarily on the technology and tools associated with these activities; however, little research exists on the teachers'€™ involvement with these learning strategies. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of teachers currently using maker-centered learning strategies as an instructional practice in grade 5-12 classrooms. Based on the idea of constructing knowledge through active learning, the conceptual framework for this research encompasses multiple learning theories including constructionism, constructivism, experiential learning, and cooperative learning. The research examined the motivation of teachers' using maker-centered learning strategies and the challenges and benefits they have experienced. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and written lived experience descriptions from seven teachers currently using maker-based learning in their classrooms and analyzed using InVivo coding. The participants described their experiences as facilitators in student-centered classrooms that focus on collaboration and learning through failure. Time and assessment are common challenges while increased student engagement and student social and academic growth are common benefits. Experts maintain that maker-centered learning improves 21st century skills and prepares students for success in college, careers, and lifelong learning opportunities.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-11-09T10:23:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tatiana Sansone Soster.pdf: 14088089 bytes, checksum: 45555bece409aa20d74ab146a39b6f5f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-09T10:23:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tatiana Sansone Soster.pdf: 14088089 bytes, checksum: 45555bece409aa20d74ab146a39b6f5f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research aims to unveil the elements of Maker Education and whether they promote the emancipatory education, through theory and practices analysis. It also seeks to contribute for the knowledge production in this new domain that still lacks studies and publications for its theoretical reference, especially in Portuguese. The research is inspired on the Phenomenological approach by proposing investigative procedures that allow the theoretical elements to emerge and unveil the elements of practice. As a result of this research, it can be observed that the theoretical proposal and the practical realization of Maker Education are merging in many elements, having few distinct characteristics and many complementary ones. The theoretical characteristics of the Critical Pedagogy element have not been observed in practice. In fact, there was only the proposal of critical reflection on the students learning process in the pedagogical proposals of project documentation. Theoretical elements such as Constructionism and Constructivism have not been identified on the practices. However, the majority of the characteristics emerged as a practice of Maker Education. The curriculum in both theory and practice is associated with the knowledge areas of STEM & STEAM, and maker skills, systemically excluding all Humanities fields but Arts, at least on the projects hereby analyzed. It can be said that Maker Education is under construction and, therefore, still presents learning pedagogical results beneath from its theory, especially in regards to individuals critical development and integration of Maker practices into all areas of knowledge via the curriculum. The limited vision in applying Maker Education to STEM/STEAM and for developing student autonomy only on the school activities context have limited its potential. It can be verified on the research the undeniable power of Maker Education in producing mobilizing conditions for methodologies, practices, teaching and learning experiences in digital and physical technologies environments within the formal education context, ensuring access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and computational thinking. In order to help building an overview of the analyzed practices, a summarizing chart containing the elements of Maker Education is presented, being constructed from the analysis, discussion and follow up of the theory and practices observed / Esse estudo procura, através da análise teórica e das práticas desvelar se os elementos da educação Maker propõem a promoção de uma educação emancipatória. Busca-se, também, contribuir para a produção de conhecimento nesta nova área que ainda carece de estudos e publicações sobre seu referencial teórico, especialmente na Língua Portuguesa. A pesquisa inspira-se na abordagem fenomenológica para propor procedimentos investigativos que possibilitem que os elementos da teoria emerjam e que os elementos da prática sejam desvelados. Como resultado deste estudo observa-se que, a proposta teórica e a realização das práticas da educação Maker se aproximam em muitos elementos, havendo poucas características divergentes e muitas complementares. As características do elemento Pedagogia Crítica na perspectiva teórica foram pouco observadas na prática, havendo apenas a proposta de reflexão crítica sobre o processo de aprendizagem do aluno nas propostas pedagógicas de documentação do projeto. Os elementos teóricos, Construtivismo e Construcionismo não foram explicitados nas práticas observadas, porém a grande maioria das suas características emergiram como características da prática da educação Maker. O currículo, tanto na teoria quanto na prática, está associado somente às áreas de conhecimento STEM e STEAM, e as chamadas “habilidades do Maker”, excluindo sistematicamente as áreas de humanas, ao menos nos projetos aqui analisados, com exceção às artes. Pode-se afirmar que a educação Maker está em construção e, portanto, ainda apresenta resultados pedagógicos de aprendizagem aquém de sua teoria, especialmente no que diz respeito à formação crítica de sujeitos e integração da prática Maker com todas as áreas de conhecimentos abordadas no contexto escolar através do currículo. A visão limitada da aplicação da educação Maker para as áreas STEM/STEAM, e para o desenvolvimento da autonomia do educando apenas ao contexto das atividades escolares, limitam suas potencialidades. Constata-se no conjunto da pesquisa o inegável poder que a educação Maker tem de produzir condições de mobilizadora de metodologias, práticas, experiências de ensinoaprendizagem em ambientes de tecnologias digitais e físicas no contexto da educação formal, garantindo principalmente o acesso às Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) e ao pensamento computacional. Para se ter uma visão de conjunto das práticas analisadas apresenta-se um quadro sintético com os elementos da educação Maker, construído a partir da análise, discussão e acompanhamento da teoria e das práticas observadas