Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

How can the Maker movement
help develop creative students?
Finding its ancestry in home economics,
shop class, sculpture, and the chemistry
lab, the Maker movement is returning
hands-on learning back to the education
system, calling for students to engage in
development through design (Anderson,
2012). We have the opportunity to
ask students not only what the object,
program, or creation does but how they
can make it better, or use it in a new
way, in essence, expand on the functionality
through creativity. Kalil (2010)
describes the maker mindset as “empowering
people not just to seek out jobs in
STEM or creative fields, but to make
their own jobs and industries, depending
on their interests and the emerging
needs they see in rapidly changing
society.” The Maker movement provides
“shape” for reaching careers once left
uncharted by the invisible ladder. The
Maker movement promotes bottom-up
decision making where students are
free to explore their passions and create
(Peppler, & Bender, 2013).
The Maker movement is
inclusive and feasible for the growth of
creative students. One library found
the cost of maker equipment to be
easily justifiable. Trading out certain
journal subscriptions that cost more
than $3,000 per year, the $25,000 cost
for two 3-D printers seemed feasible (a
history of making). Now, a 3-D printer
can be purchased for as little as $500.
Nevertheless, the creation of a makerspace
is not the only way to engage students
in this movement. Approximately
2,000 makerspaces have cropped up
around the globe (Tierney, 2015), with
Maker Fairs and Mini-Maker Fairs occurring
annually. Through these events,
creative students can be connected to
mentorship, new skills, and the endless
combination of interests.
The Maker movement aspires
to transform education. As a partner
in innovation and creativity, the Maker
movement sees itself as an agent
of inspiration by inviting students to
participate in the creative economy and
direct their own future (Makerspace
Playbook). The STEAM and Maker
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movements not only recognize and
value innovators, but also make invisible
pathways to these careers visible.
Most important, perhaps, is
that Makerspaces and STEAM labs
provide students who have never quite
fit into the ordinary classroom a place of
their own. Students with dual interests
in arts and sciences and with strong spatial-visual
abilities will feel at home in a
place where they can invent and design
their own products. Creative students
who find the conformity, structure,
and routine of the regular classroom
frustrating may be able to thrive in the
open, low-structure, and collaborative
environment of the Makerspace. All
students who love to problem-solve
using both their mind and hands will be
released from boredom. Finally, in these
environments, creative students often
feel motivated to learn the mathematics,
verbal skills, and social skills they
may have neglected before in order to
produce and promote their products.
Math is perceived by many
artistically creative students as a deal
breaker. STEAM programs that are
serious about attracting spatially-visually
talented students will need to find
new ways of teaching math through art
and spatial-visual problem-solving. In
addition, most creative students have
high scores on sentience and aesthetic
values, particularly art students. STEM
environments are perceived as beauty-free
environments by those sensitive
to color, design, and lighting. These
students need to be encouraged to make
STEAM labs and Makerspaces more
inviting for themselves and others.
Artistically talented students differ from
STEM students in having lower conscientiousness,
less stability of mood, and
lower impulse control. STEM teachers
working in Makerspaces need to be
prepared to work with these students
by learning effective teaching strategies
with creative students. Providing more
freedom and self-determination while
teaching students the self-regulation
strategies they will need to complete
projects, to present their products to
others, and to collaborate with a diverse
group of artists, designers, and scientists
will be critical.
The possibilities for the Maker
Movement and the STEAM movements
to identify and provide for the career
development and learning needs of
creative students are many. The use of
profiling methods that include interests,
personality and cognitive factors,
and creative accomplishments may be
a promising way to identify students
who will benefit from STEAM labs
and Makerspaces. The growth of these
spaces in the schools opens up the possibilities
of a place where creative students
can be comfortable and productive.
Finally, there is the possibility that many
more students will be recruited, guided,
and mentored into the STEAM careers
that are on the frontiers of design and
technology.
References
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Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Anderson, C. (2012). Makers: The new industrial
revolution. New York, NY: Random
House.
Batey, M., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham,
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