Maker Activities and Academic Writing in a Middle School Science Classroom

Abstract

Makerspaces have become prevalent in education. Academic writing is important for middle school students, and maker activities have the potential to enhance students’ academic vocabulary. However, few studies have been conducted in a makerspace and writing context. The three primary components of a makerspace include community, space, and tools, but little is known about how they affect motivation and writing in a makerspace. This mixed-methods study examined the impacts of space and collaboration on students’ motivation to complete a maker project and the quality of their academic writing. For this study, collaboration consisted of group work under role assignments. Students were in one of the three groups: (1) Assigned Roles Makerspace, (2) Assigned Roles Classroom, and (3) No Roles Makerspace. Students’ motivation was measured, and their pre- and postwritings were collected. Students were also interviewed. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the survey data and planned comparisons showed that collaboration had a significant effect on students’ pressure. A one-way ANCOVA analysis showed that there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups in post-writing. The analysis of interview data suggested that students enjoyed working in makerspaces and that collaboration reduced their sense of pressure.