Makerspaces in Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries to Support Student Development of Engineering Design Skills

摘要

Design spaces are important for the development of engineering design solutions in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Only recently has literature begun to comprehensively document and compare makerspaces; however, this comparison is frequently only based on measurable properties such as size and number of machines. Instead, we argue that the defining characteristics of a makerspace are facilitation of prototyping, curricular outcomes, and management philosophy. This study compares three makerspaces in countries with different economic backgrounds: the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) at Rice University in Houston, TX, USA; the Laborat6rio de Fabricacao (LABFAB) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande Do Sul in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; and the Polytechnic Design Studio (PDS) at Malawi Polytechnic in Blantyre, Malawi. We provide insight into how these economic differences present themselves in the governance of the makerspaces including space access, partnerships, policies, procedures, and staffing models. Additionally, we highlight how economic differences impact the level and quality of prototypes achievable by students. Despite these differences, all three institutions have experienced rapid growth in the number of users, supported projects, and staff within their makerspaces. Support for this growth came from investments made into curricular resources like dedicated classes, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring. We conclude with some suggestions for future makerspace development incorporating these same principles.