Makerspaces in the early years: Enhancing digital literacy and creativity (MakEY)

This collection of data is related to the EU-funded project ‘Makerspaces in the early years: Enhancing digital literacy and creativity’ (Grant number 734720).

The website for the project is: https://makeyproject.eu

The project involved seven European countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Romania, UK) and the USA.

The research questions were as follows:

Personal level

Ÿ What are the beliefs and practices of makerspace employees and volunteers, and early years practitioners, across Europe with regard to the value and development of makerspaces for the 3-8 age group?

Ÿ What are the meanings and motivations children attach to their engagement in making activities in each of the case study settings, and how do these motivations interact with the demands of the makerspace?

Ÿ How are children’s experiences in the makerspace reshaping their interests in and identifications with digital literacy learning and creativity?

Ÿ What kinds of digital literacy skills and creative competences do children develop through their participation in the makerspace?

Relational level

Ÿ What characterises the social interactions and learning practices that arise in the digital makerspace?

Ÿ How do diverse children engage in the social interactions of the makerspace?

Ÿ How do the social and material resources of the makerspace support diverse children’s engagement, digital literacy and creative design skills?

Institutional level

Ÿ What are the perceived institutional/ organisational barriers to the use of makerspaces for children aged 3-8?

Ÿ How are the makerspaces integrated into institutions to which they may be related (e.g. museum, school) – including social organisation, space and time arrangements?

Ÿ Do the makerspaces and their practices create equitable opportunities for children’s learning and identity development and – if so – how does this operate at an institutional level?

Ÿ What kinds of practices – pedagogical, assessment, material provision – best support young children’s engagement in the makerspaces and how might this knowledge be used to inform future provision for makerspaces in both formal and non-formal learning spaces?

Ÿ What is the value of the partnership between academic and non-academic participants in creating makerspaces for young children

Makerspaces involving children aged 0-8 and their family members were organised in all countries, and methods for collecting data included: interviews, field notes, video recordings, children videoing makerspace workshops using wearable point-of-view cameras and still images.

The data shared in this repository do not include images of children, due to the permissions granted. In Denmark, the only data collected were video and images, so they have not been shared. Finland did not have permission to share the data collected. For all other countries, only data that does not feature identifiable images of children are shared.

For each dataset, there is a ‘Read-me’ file, which explains how the data were collected and provides other contextual details.

Anonymised data from an online survey is also shared. The survey was conducted in 2017, using Qulatrics. The aim of the survey was to explore the extent to which early years practitioners, library staff, museum educators and makerspace staff kew about, and had experience of, running makerspaces for children aged 0-8.