Teachers Use of Public Makerspaces to Support Students' Development of Digital Technology Competencies

Public libraries around the world have been re-configuring their sites to include 'makerspaces'-as a dedicated area where learners engage in creating, inventing, designing, discovering, coding, building and exploring. Makerspace activity often involves learning-by-doing and problem-solving, in a variety of topics in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This paper discusses the use of a public makerspace as an innovative learning environment, which has been specially set-up for exploring computational thinking (CT) in alignment with STEM activities. Interviews with primary school teachers explored their perceptions of the use of a makerspace for CT teaching and learning. Findings suggest that whilst teachers considered problem-solving important for developing CT skills, workshop sessions with tools/robotics seemed to hold higher value for them. Results also reveal teachers' uncertainties on how to design CT learning tasks and assessments; and discuss the role of makerspaces in offering opportunities for experimentation, collaboration, and shared inquiry in CT teaching and learning.