Young children’s design thinking skills in makerspaces

A Systematic Review on FabLab Environments and Creativity: Implications for Design

“…Studies that did not focus on the creative issue of FabLabs or makerspaces were excluded. In this regard, an article stated that "makerspaces offer a pedagogical approach promoting creativity in students" [46]. However, because the relationship between creativity and makerspaces was not investigated, it was excluded.…”

“…Velicu and Giannis showed that playing with support tools in makerspaces could dramatically change the way children perceive and approach a task demanding creative skills [83]. Applying design thinking in makerspaces was found to enhance open-ended, flexible, and transferable skills, such as creativity and critical thinking [46]. Overall, the studies dealt with different groups of people, roles, and skill development.…”

Re-defining Characteristics of a Design Protagonist – Elements of Children’s Design Capital

“…Integrating digital fabrication and making into formal learning enhances children's maker mindset ). In addition, as the maker mindset has been developed through Papert's theory of Constructionism (Papert 1986), engaging children in makerspaces not only promotes their maker mindset but also eventually provides opportunities for enhancing children's design thinking skills (Hatzigianni et al 2020). However, nurturing a maker mindset in children is challenging as the core of the maker mindset is still vague in the literature and a deeper understanding of maker identity is needed .…”

“…In absolute terms, design thinking stands for all the cognitive processes that a person's mind goes through when performing design." Other studies refer to prior definitions of design thinking: for example, Hatzigianni et al (2020) apply New South Wales Educational Standards Authority's (NESA 2017) definition: "Design thinking is a process where a need or opportunity is identified, and a design solution is developed. The consideration of economic, environmental and social impacts that result from designed solutions are core to design thinking.…”

“…The studies maintain that design thinking enhances children's opportunities to explore new conceptual knowledge and empowers them in their everyday digitized world. Engaging children in design thinking practices fosters creativity and innovation (Grammenos and Antona 2018;Hatzigianni et al 2020). Furthermore, Flores (2018) mentions that when children engage in making artifacts, they can benefit from design thinking and constructionist approach.…”