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The ‘Making the Maker’ project is an NSF-funded project that aims to investigate how Making can be used to scaffold the interest of children, especially from underrepresented populations, to pursue STEM-related careers. The main mechanism through which the project aims to achieve this goal is to support the development of children’s identity as Makers by integrating Making activities longitudinally into the elementary school curricula. Alex has designed almost all hardware in collaboration with Multi-Disciplinary teams in Manufacturing, Education, and Psychology.
Newcomers to digital fabrication often fail during initial attempts without mentor guidance, causing many to abandon these technologies completely due to a lack of self-efficacy and social support. In order for digital fabrication technologies to be accessible within diverse populations, including those in rural locations with access to fabrication machines but not experienced proximal mentors, proximal mentor roles may be partially emulated through interactions with online social resources. Existing online resources provide the information needed for individuals to learn many practices, but finding and utilizing online 3D printing resources is not always trivial.