Maker-Centered Teacher Professional Development: Examining K-12 Teachers’ Learning Experiences in a Commercial Makerspace

There has been increased interest in utilizing making activities in classroom-based educational environments and research suggests these activities may promote desirable student dispositions such as increased confidence and agency. To realize these benefits, teachers must experience maker-centered learning in order to design and integrate these types of activities into their curriculum. This qualitative study examined K-12 teachers’ perceptions of an eight-week professional development experience designed to expose participants to making activities and the culture inherent in a commercial makerspace. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 15 teachers who participated in the experience during Summer 2017. An analysis of the interview data describes participants’ learning experiences within three modes of teacher learning: formal, informal and independent. This paper describes how and what teachers learned during the professional development experience, as well as their perceptions of learning in a commercial makerspace.