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28-05-2025
Knowledge Building Through Making in a Physics Class
Authors: Jill A. Marshall, Bernard G. David, Pablo Durán Oliva
Published in: Journal of Science Education and Technology
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Abstract
This article investigates the transformative potential of Making in a formal educational setting, specifically within a college-level physics class. The study, conducted over five years, examines how the integration of Making activities can enhance students' understanding of physics concepts, particularly in the areas of electric circuits and optics. The research underscores the importance of project choice, iteration, and community engagement in fostering a deeper, more applied understanding of physics. Students were encouraged to select projects that held personal significance, leading to a high level of engagement and persistence. The study also highlights the role of traditional and digital tools in facilitating learning, with a particular emphasis on the accessibility and inclusivity of lower-tech tools. The findings suggest that Making can extend beyond the acquisition of existing knowledge, promoting the development of new ideas and the application of theoretical concepts to real-world problems. The article also discusses the challenges and considerations of integrating Making into formal education, including the need to rethink curriculum design and assessment methods. It concludes with a call for further research to explore the broader implications of Making in physics education and its potential to democratize the curriculum.
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Abstract
We report a 5-year study investigating how incorporating Making influenced learning in a college-level physics class for pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher leaders, based on Physics by Inquiry (McDermott & the University of Washington PEG, 1996). Following a knowledge-building framework (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006), we find that students’ home communities, the extended Maker community and the classroom community all interacted with individual learning to promote knowledge building, extending students’ knowledge of electric circuits. Elements of the instructional design for the Maker project promoted students’ personal engagement and persistence, and strengthened the knowledge building community. These were (1) freedom to choose personally meaningful projects, (2) freedom to use familiar and appropriate tools, (3) normalization of iteration and improvement in project requirements, and (4) setting a norm for sharing ideas in the classroom and broader communities. Statistical comparison of final exam results prior to and after adding the Maker component demonstrated that the addition did not diminish learning of the traditional conceptual canon as previously measured, even while activating students’ knowledge of electric circuits and developing broader skills and dispositions. These results are significant; without solid evidence base for its effectiveness (Bevan et al., Studies in Science Education 53(1), 75–103, 2020) and perceived costs of incorporating Making in terms of equipment, supplies and time away from the standard curriculum (Cohen, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 25(1), 5–30 2017), it is very likely that we will miss the opportunity to realize the potential of Making in democratizing the curriculum (Blikstein et al., e-Curriculum 18(2), 523–544, 2020).
