Beyond the Maker Movement: A Preliminary Partial Literature Review on the Role of Makerspaces in Engineering Education

Makerspaces have grown over the last few years as public awareness of the maker movement has increased. Makerspaces are open to the public as community design studios that cultivate creative and technology-based projects alike. Fabrication labs and makerspaces serve as collective organizations that help facilitate design and prototyping for individuals that may not have access to that equipment or material outside of that physical location. In engineering education, there is a vast amount of research on the use of design-based principles to enrich engineering education in the form of design projects, design competitions, and capstone courses. Makerspaces are environments in which design takes place, yet, the body of knowledge available on the role of makerspaces in engineering education as locations to increase technology and engineering literacy seems limited. It is the purpose of this paper to present a preliminary partial literature review of some relevant prior work on the role of makerspaces in engineering education. This review explores a select few works on makerspaces within engineering education and synthesizes the findings such as major agreements and debates within the research area. As an introductory literature review, this paper explores the use and definition of the term makerspace and examines the history and evolution of makerspaces as related to the constructivism cognitive framework of learning. This literature review provides an introductory overview of the role of makerspaces as locations to increase technology and engineering literacy in engineering education. This paper also highlights some areas of research within engineering education that examines makerspaces in depth and their relationship to design-based education. This literature review identifies some gaps in the current research that can lead to the development of novel research questions. The questions will inform future research that will contribute to the body of knowledge available on the role of makerspaces in engineering education.