Search

This research endeavors to investigate the innovative potential of toys produced within STEAM Makerspaces, as perceived by teachers, utilizing a concurrent parallel mixed-method approach. Quantitative and qualitative data were simultaneously collected to provide a comprehensive understanding. A quasi-experimental design underpinned the quantitative portion of the study, while qualitative methods encompassed observations, document analysis, and structured interviews. The study involved 25 preschool educators from Turkey who had participated in STEAM Makerspace activities. The "STEAM-Teacher Interview Form", "STEAM Engineering Design Observation Form", "STEAM Engineering Design Process Photographs", and "Innovative Thinking Disposition Scale for Preschool Teachers", developed by Bilir, Akbaş and Darıca (2023) with established validity and reliability, were employed as data collection instruments. T-tests were utilized to examine the pretest-posttest scores in the quantitative phase, while thematic content analysis was applied to interpret the qualitative data. The results suggest that the toys produced within STEAM Makerspaces possess innovative potential, serving as a reflection of educators' cognitive abilities, particularly in terms of imagination and creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Printers can release numerous particles to contaminate indoor environments and pose health risks. Clarifying the exposure level and physicochemical properties of printer-emitted particles (PEPs) will help to evaluate the health risks of printer operator. In our study, the particles concentration in the printing shop was monitored in real time for a long time (12 h/day, total 6 days), and the PEPs were collected to characterize their physicochemical properties including shape, size and compositions. The result showed that the concentration of PEPs is closely related to the printing workload and the highest particle mass concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 was 212.73 μg m−3 and 91.48 μg m−3, respectively. The concentration of PM1 in the printing shop was in the range of 11.88–80.59 μg m−3 for mass value, and 174.83–1348.84 P cm−3 for count value which changed with the printing volume. The particle sizes of PEPs were less than 900 nm, 47.99% of PEPs was less than 200 nm, and 14.21% of the particles were at the nanoscale. PEPs contained 68.92% organic carbon (OC), 5.31% elemental carbon (EC), 3.17% metal elements, and 22.60% other inorganic additives, which contained more OC and metal elements than toners. Total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) levels were 18.95 ng/mg in toner and 120.70 ng/mg in PEPs. The carcinogenic risk of PAHs in PEPs was 1.40 × 10–7. These findings suggested future studies should pay more attention to the health effects of printing workers exposed to nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makerspaces, workspaces where families can explore materials and tools collaboratively, can provide an opportunity for creative expression and early engineering learning in community spaces. The present study examined a cardboard-focused museum makerspace that included an assembly-style activity. Assembly-style making uses instructions to support makers. Such activities have been critiqued as limiting creativity and engineering thinking. However, makers who are less comfortable in makerspaces may benefit from assemblystyle activities helping to scaffold their entry into the space. We explored these criticisms and potential benefits of assembly-style making through developing case studies of video data taken by families in a makerspace. Visitors made creative and personally meaningful creations when engaged in assembly style making. Moreover, assembly-style making mediated a family less comfortable with making to get started in the space alongside ample evidence of families following engineering design processes. Contrary to popular belief, assemblystyle making offers an important support to novice makers, without eliminating creativity and engineering design processes, and should be considered in the mix of activities available in makerspaces to support makers of all levels of comfort in making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruptive innovation is needed to raise the threshold of sustainable building performance, so that our buildings improve on net zero impacts and have a life‐promoting impact on the natural world. This article outlines a new approach to next‐generation sustainable architecture, which draws on the versatile metabolisms of microbes as a platform by incorporating microbial technologies and microbially produced materials into the practice of the built environment. The regenerative architecture arising from these interventions includes a broad range of advances from using new materials, to creating bioreceptive surfaces that promote life, and providing green, bio‐remediating energy from waste. Such innovations are presently reaching the marketplace as novel materials like Biocement® with lower embodied carbon than conventional materials that adopt microbially facilitated processes, and as novel utilities like PeePower® that transforms urine into electrical energy and bioreactor‐based building systems such as the pioneering BIQ building in Hamburg. While the field is still young, some of these products (e.g. mycelium biocomposites) are poised for uptake by the public–private economic axis to become mainstream within the building industry. Other developments are creating new economic opportunities for local maker communities that empower citizens and catalyse novel vernacular building practices. In particular, the activation of the microbial commons by the uptake of microbial technologies and materials through daily acts of living, 'democratises' resource harvesting (materials and energy) in ways that sustain life, and returns important decisions about how to run a home back to citizens. This disruptive move re‐centres the domestic‐commons economic axis to the heart of society, setting the stage for new vernacular architectures that support increasingly robust and resilient communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makerspaces are still emerging service offerings and establishments within libraries and on university campuses. They provide equipment and expertise for hands-on projects and skill-building, especially around digital fabrication. This paper presents findings from a qualitative case study of a makerspace in a regional university Library at the University of Southern Queensland. It explores users' experiences of participation and value across three usage types in the Makerspace: course curriculum, extracurricular, and research. To understand users' experiences within the space a visual research method was adopted alongside semi-structured interviews. This facilitated a participant-driven dialogue and adding depth to the data collected. A reflexive thematic analysis of interview transcripts was undertaken from which five themes were developed. These were: a tentative start, practical need, skills development, community connection, and influencing outlook. The resulting themes presented a narrative of users' participation that started with tentative curiosity and hesitancy around using the Makerspace, but ultimately saw participants finding value in new perspectives and skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present scientific paper highlights the complex personality of the teacher, the man and one of the promoters of the Cadet INOVA exhibition - Professor Diplomat Engineer, Doctor Honoris Causa, Octavian Constantin BOLOGA, PhD. An academic and cultural personality recognized nationally and internationally, the tribute brings to the attention of young cadets examples of good scientific and civic practices carried out by the regretted professor. The paper is intended to be a tribute to the opener, trainer and path-maker of young thinking minds - Octavian Constantin BOLOGA - the man who marked the training of "heavy caliber" PhD students and scientific researchers who continue today, with discretion and professionalism, the scientific legacy left by their mentor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incremental housing signifies a solution for low-income households, one in which the government creates shell dwellings favourable to adjustments by the owners, defined as nuclear families receiving state support. The shell house represents an unfinished unit as the envelope of the building whose interior completion depends on the low-income families' investment. It constitutes the permanent structure with the service parts, particularly pipes, cable, and basic features of the kitchen and toilet, as a point of departure for the occupants' customisation. The author used descriptive observation, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews to examine dwellings' infill and attachments in Villa Verde, Lo Espejo condominium, and Las Higueras. The hypothesis holds that low-income families' efforts to complete the unfinished house cultivate the sense of home embodiment spawned by their collective creativity. Interpreting collected data for the firework, the author used critical phenomenology to argue for households' embodiment within their shell houses. This embodiment designates social bonding between families during units' adjustment that fosters occupants' alliances. The article concludes with three terms—readymade, habits, and measurement—as attitude of families' transformation of houses. It underlines how the building knowledge is acquired from familiarity with their neighbours, the importance of intimacy that progresses from frequent and repetitive interaction between residents, and the significance of cohabiting as a family's awareness of belonging to the house embedded through being stationary in a place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Learning assistants (LAs) increase accessibility to instructor–student interactions in large STEM lecture classes. In this research, we used the Formative Assessment Enactment Model developed for K-12 science teachers to characterize LA facilitation practices. The Formative Assessment Enactment Model describes instructor actions as eliciting or advancing student thinking, guided by their purposes and the perspective they center as well as by what they notice about and how they interpret student thinking. Thus, it describes facilitation practices in a holistic way, capturing the way purposes, perspectives, noticing, interpreting, and actions are intertwined and working together to characterize different LA actions. In terms of how perspectives influence actions, eliciting and advancing moves can be enacted either in authoritative ways, driven by one perspective that has authority, or in dialogic ways, driven by multiple perspectives. Dialogic practices are of particular interest because of their potential to empower students and center student thinking. Results: Our analysis of video recordings of LA–student interactions and stimulated recall interviews with 37 introductory physical science lectures' LAs demonstrates that instead of as a dichotomy between authoritative and dialogic, LA actions exist along a spectrum of authoritative to dialogic based on the perspectives centered. Between the very authoritative perspective that centers on canonically correct science and the very dialogic perspective that centers the perspectives of the students involved in the discussion, we find two intermediary categories. The two new categories encompass a moderately authoritative perspective focused on the LA's perspective without the claim of being correct and a moderately dialogic perspective focused on ideas from outside the current train of thought such as from students in the class that are not part of the current discussion. Conclusions: This spectrum further adds to theory around authoritative and dialogic practices as it reconsiders what perspectives can drive LA enactment of facilitation other than the perspective of canonically correct science and the perspectives of the students involved in the discussion. This emerging characterization may be used to give LAs and possibly other instructors a tool to intentionally shift between authoritative and dialogic practices. It may also be used to transition towards more student-centered practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a lack of secure Identity following the new developments In a Muslim Royal Town of high-tech modernization In the twentieth century, the craft maker created any motif with an unknown purpose. As a result, the original character of the location will be tarnished, and the Image will vanish. This paper alms to Identify the qualitative responses of the plant elements reinforcing the Muslim Royal Town of Kuala Kangsar, conducted semi-structured Interview participants based on purposive sampling, Including professionals, policymakers, and skilled practitioner's categories. The data was analyzed through qualitative coding using Atlas ti B.Ü. The significant findings reveal that the flower, the color related to the flag, leaf, and types of plant, tendril/meandering cloud, the shape of the plant, and an element of the plant on a Perak Coat of Arm reflected the royal Muslim town. This finding contributes to assessing the details of the plants' motif representation to assist the city council In preserving the unique and valuable historical heritage for the place Image of the Muslim Royal-Town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the student population in the United States (US) is becoming more diverse, educator preparation programs are seeking ways to make the teacher workforce more diverse, which involves diversification of training experiences. Informal spaces, which can include integrated science, mathematics, engineering and technology (STEM) opportunities, are not traditionally part of teacher preparation, although teachers are being asked to occupy these STEM spaces with more frequency. Including informal experiences in a community STEM makerspace, which highlights digital fabrication, creativity, and problem solving, diversifies teacher preparation by extending beyond both the university setting and the elementary classroom. This exploratory case study with elementary (primary) pre-service teachers in a science and math methods (vis a vis STEM) class examines experiences they have in a community makerspace in a qualitative study, which uses Data Engagement (DE) as a methodological framework. DE draws upon intersectional feminist, critical, and materialist theories. Assembled and made data from observations in the makerspace, pre- and post-maker reflections, and responses to a modified in-person interview protocol reveal that, despite more open-ended and complex challenges than those experienced in class, participants reported positive future-thinking, less content dread, and more agency in perceived efficacy. These results invite further study and conversation about including informal STEM maker experiences in US teacher preparation as a step to increasing diversity in the teacher workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the last two decades have seen an increased interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) in K-12 schools, few efforts have focused on the teachers and teaching practices necessary to support these interventions. Even fewer have considered the important work that teachers carry out not just inside classrooms but beyond the classroom walls to sustain such STEAM implementation efforts, from interacting with administrators to recruiting students and persuading parents about the importance of arts and computer science. In order to understand teachers' needs and practices regarding STEAM implementation, in this paper, we focus on eight experienced computer science teachers' reflections on implementing a STEAM unit using electronic textiles, which combine crafting, circuit design, and coding so as to make wearable artifacts. We use a broad lens to examine the practices high school teachers employed not only in their classrooms but also in their schools and communities to keep these equitable learning opportunities going, from communicating with other teachers and admins to building a computer science (CS) teacher community across district and state lines. We also analyzed these reflections to understand teachers' own social and emotional needs—needs important to staying in the field of CS education—better, as they are relevant to engaging with learning new content, applying new pedagogical skills, and obtaining materials and endorsements from their organizations to bring STEAM into their classrooms. In the discussion, we contemplate what teachers' reported practices and needs say about supporting and sustaining equitable STEAM in classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background We investigate the factors that shape teachers’ implementation of a school STEM reform—the creation of a high-school makerspace. Educational reformers have increasing interest in making and makerspaces in schools. Prior research shows how factors shape reform at the classroom, school (organizational), and institutional levels, as well as across levels. However, most research on teachers tends to focus on classroom-level effects, which may not capture the full complexity of how they navigate multilevel reforms. We consider teachers’ decision-making from an ecological perspective to investigate what shapes their implementation efforts, using observational and interview data collected over 2 years in a large comprehensive high school. Results We find teachers’ efforts are shaped by four “distances”—or spaces teachers traversed, physically and conceptually—related to skillsets and distributed expertise, physical space, disciplinary learning, and structural factors. The distances operate as a constellation of factors—independently identifiable, co-operatively manifesting—to shape implementation. We position teacher deliberations and decision-making as portals into the forms of organizational and institutional supports offered in multilevel reforms. Conclusions The paper contributes insights into makerspace implementation in schools, adding to the emerging literature on how making can transform STEM learning experiences for students. We conclude that teachers’ decision-making around multilevel implementations can inform our understanding of how makerspaces are implemented and their impact on students’ experiences, as well as how seeing teachers as multilevel actors can offer new insights into reform dynamics writ large. We offer implications for makerspaces in schools, as well as methodological and theoretical considerations for how organizations and institutions can better support teachers as agents of STEM reform.

Previous research has shown the positive effects of exposure to real and virtual nature. To investigate how such benefits might generalize to ever-more-prevalent virtual workplaces, we examined the effects of the absence or presence of virtual plants in an office environment in Virtual Reality (VR) on users' cognitive performance and psychological well-being. The results of our user study with 39 participants show that in the presence of virtual plants, participants performed significantly better in both short-term memory and creativity tasks. Furthermore, they reported higher psychological well-being scores, including positive affect and attentive coping, whilst reporting lower feelings of anger and aggression after exposure to virtual plants in VR. The virtual office with plants was also perceived as more restorative and induced a higher sense of presence. Overall, these results highlight how the presence of virtual plants in VR can have positive influences on users, and therefore, constitute important design considerations when developing future working and learning spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The sensitivity of air-assisted atomizers' atomization characteristic to operation conditions among snow making process was investigated. • A transparent atomizer was designed, structured and tested for observing the two-phase flow morphologies inside atomizer. • Four mixing patterns inside mixing chamber appear in sequence by rising the air supply pressure. • The air-assisted atomizers with the mixing mode of air and water injected independently is recommended for outdoor snow-makers. Air-assisted atomizers play a crucial role in generating nuclei and promoting heterogeneous nucleation in outdoor snow-makers. The change of operation conditions for snow-makers leads to a marked variation of atomization characteristic of air-assisted atomizers, which directly influences the nuclei generating and snow-making efficiency. This paper investigates the sensitivity of air-assisted atomizers' atomization characteristic to operation conditions in snow-makers. For this purpose, a transparent device is designed, structured and tested. The water-air mixing process was presented, and the atomization behaviors of two air-assisted atomizers with different mixing modes were compared in order to find an appropriate mixing mode for outdoor snow-makers. Results show that the spray cone angle first goes up and then falls down with the increase of air-water pressure ratio, while Sauter mean diameter (SMD) decreases monotonically. The unbalanced air-water pressure ratio results in the failure of atomization because of the choking phenomenon. Inside the air-assisted atomizers, there are four stable mixing patterns in sequence, i.e., full water, churning flow, annular flow and full air. With the variation of the mixing pattern, the interaction between water and air changes, which causes different atomization characteristics under different operation conditions. Another interesting finding is that the atomizers with the mixing mode in which air and water are injected independently have remarkably better performance in avoiding choking situation and improving mass flow rate, which can be a better choice for outdoor snow-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss how a capability approach to information technology in neighbourhoods with low social capital can create embedded and sustainable Community Technology Partnerships (CTPs) that connect residents and institutions together, reducing barriers to social participation and collaborative action. Current research indicates older people in deprived neighbourhoods have chronic problems with the effective sharing of community information, a key factor in the 'digital divide' [Niehaves and Plattfaut (2014). Internet adoption by the elderly: Employing IS technology acceptance theories for understanding the age-related digital divide. European Journal of Information Systems, 23(6), 708–726. ]. Manchester Age Friendly Neighbourhoods had 4,000 conversations in four 'age-friendly' resident-led neighbourhood partnerships in Manchester. This fieldwork demonstrated that the inability to create and share information within and across residents, communities and service providers is a key contributor to social isolation and barrier to local collaboration. MAFN developed a CTP to correlate perceptions that it was difficult to find out what was going on in the neighbourhood, with an exhaustive audit of actual activity. The result was collective surprise at finding out about dozens of events in each area that were previously either poorly communicated or which were not normally published at all, relying entirely on word of mouth. The CTP was developed using a capability model [Kleine (2013). Technologies of choice? ICTs, development, and the capabilities approach. MIT Press] to discover and overcome both the social and technical barriers preventing the hosts of neighbourhood activities collaboratively and sustainably self-publishing their event information. This resulted in the production of PlaceCal, an holistic social and technical toolkit that ensures groups and individuals have the technology, skills, infrastructure and support to publish information, creating a distributed network of community information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how small states can enhance their importance within the "space club" and improve their capacity to attain national objectives. The study assesses the approaches taken by five successful small states to achieve their space- related interests and evaluates their effectiveness. The research demonstrates that small states can gain relevance within the space community by leveraging their unique attributes or identifying gaps in the space ecosystem. This relevance can help small states gain improved access to space services, enhance security, drive economic growth, and have a stronger voice in international space forums. The research provides valuable insights for small states seeking to participate in the space club and aims to inspire them to believe that they too can gain relevance within the space community and advance their national interests through space. This article is relevant to scholars and policy makers interested in space diplomacy and the role of small states in global governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings can become a significant contributor to an energy system's resilience if they are operated in a coordinated manner to exploit their flexibility in multi-carrier energy networks. However, research and innovation activities are focused on single-carrier optimization (i.e., electricity), aiming to achieve Zero Energy Buildings, and miss the significant flexibility that buildings may offer through multi-energy coupling. In this paper, we propose to use blockchain technology and ERC-1155 tokens to digitize the heat and electrical energy flexibility of buildings, transforming them into active flexibility assets within integrated multi-energy grids, allowing them to trade both heat and electricity within community-level marketplaces. The solution increases the level of interoperability and integration of the buildings with community multi-energy grids and brings advantages from a transactive perspective. It permits digitizing multi-carrier energy using the same token and a single transaction to transfer both types of energy, processing transaction batches between the sender and receiver addresses, and holding both fungible and non-fungible tokens in smart contracts to support energy markets' financial payments and energy transactions' settlement. The results show the potential of our solution to support buildings in trading heat and electricity flexibility in the same market session, increasing their interoperability with energy markets while decreasing the transactional overhead and gas consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory experiments form a vital part of any engineering course and consequently, students can spend a lot of their time on them. Most laboratory experiences are run independently of their associated lectures and tend to be free-standing. This is due to the way that students typically circulate through a limited number of sets of equipment over the duration of the course. There has been little work done on the organisation of labs and how the spaces might better support the learning experience. This article describes a novel approach using large laboratories with multiples of equipment which are shared between several departments to get both good equipment usage and the positioning of labs in the timetable to coincide with the associated topics being introduced to the students. This is reinforced with a few equations to allow the design of laboratories to take place. Example numbers using the Sheffield University Lab size (quantum) of 80 are used to show the power of this approach. Finally, the author uses his experience of operating this approach at the University of Sheffield for the past 7 years to show that this system has worked well. He also discusses some of the difficulties of this system so others can follow this method or a variation of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can LIS curricula dedicated to makerspaces provide an authentic learning experience for future librarians interested in makerspace-adjacent careers? This article presents a case study in which an authentic learning framework is applied to a newly developed LIS graduate-level course on makerspaces. We detail how one class project--entitled "Bibliocircuitry: Old Books, New Ideas"--challenged students to use their newly learned skills to upcycle a hardcover book into a personalized artifact. This article outlines emerging patterns and themes from an analysis of survey responses from 13 of the 15 students in the course. Findings reveal the project readily maps to authentic learning standards, encourages learning, and facilitates reflection (including the negotiation of uncertainty, overcoming debilitating perfectionism, and transformative joy). The study broadens curricular design interventions for LIS educators, highlights the need for deep learning with technologies, and offers an opportunity to narrow the preparation gap between information professionals and the technical and social competencies required in makerspaces. The implications of these findings for the field of LIS pedagogy emphasize the importance of an authentic learning project both to disrupt the absence of LIS maker curricula and to reimagine current one-shot, pressured, makerspace training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While urban centers have access to technology and infrastructure, in rural areas this is not always the case. The maker movement has been a driving force for combining online innovation with hands-on DIY space (McCue, 2012). While these Makerspaces appear in many larger cities, they have not been as prevalent in rural communities. As the outreach arm of the University, Extension has a mission to not only provide access to researchbased information but also to be places of learning and innovation. With educational information on the web, how can the local university extension office become a destination for its residents again? It was our goal to create a pilot innovative classroom space in a rural Ohio county, with a goal of duplicating its success in other Extension offices around Ohio and across the United States. Lessons learned and benefits from the creation of the makerspace will be shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to technological advancements, all areas of daily life undergo changes including the methods of the educational process. The traditional model of education, with the teacher as the transmitter and the student as the receiver, has been modified as the facts in today's era are completely different from what they were in the past. Especially now the use of ChatGPT has proven that education should be oriented towards methods that promote students' critical thinking and enhance interaction, communication, and creativity.The new generations of learners not only demand but also are entitled to new educational methods, which reflect the evolution of technology and respond to contemporary needs. The educational system should meet these requirements and shape new practices that will motivate the students, so that the learning result will be substantial and clear.This paper focuses on the use of the videogame "Minecraft" in the subject of Theatrical Education, which is included in its educational program of primary education, and more specifically in the third and fourth grade (3rd–4th) during the 2021–2022 school year in three elementary schools in a total of 223 students. Through this academic project has been proved that there is a bidirectional connection between these digital tools and the education of art and cultural heritage. This interactive experiment was completed using survey questionnaires so as to understand and define the value of the use of digital tools during the learning procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in remote work and study modalities in recent years has changed our indoor physical spaces. Key variables such as air quality, temperature, or well-being in general have acquired special relevance when designing workspaces. In this context, plants can play an active role in moderating these variables and providing well-being to the people who live in these spaces. UNESCO, when framing its 2030 agenda, highlighted the importance of promoting environmental awareness at the educational level (Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, and 11). The scientific literature shows that the potential of plants is not sufficiently well addressed in educational contexts. Therefore, this review explores activities in which plants are used as a deliberate object of attention in learning contexts. The results show what learning activities have been carried out, what kind of plants have been used in the activities, and what technologies have supported those activities. The results provide a clear vision of the potential of plants to naturalize indoor learning spaces and to promote environmental awareness. This work aims to provide cues for further research on green education towards a sustainable society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) require less formalized project management methods than large corporations. However, project management can play a significant role in implementing innovations. Even though lean-agile project management offices (LAPMO) are becoming increasingly important for SMEs, each company's performance varies significantly due to varying innovative capabilities and the dynamism of internal and external contexts. Based on a literature study, innovative capabilities, and LAPMO, we have developed a theoretical model with 11 assumption models. As a follow-up, we conducted empirical research, including critical variable metrics, data collection and analyses, validity tests, reliability tests, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling. The model developed in this study considers the many roles that innovation capacity and project agility play in enhancing corporate performance. LAPMO mediates the relationship between innovation and performance in small and medium-sized businesses. Organizational innovation, open innovation, and innovation capabilities affect companies' performance. In small and medium businesses, they also affect LAPMO. For small and medium-sized businesses, LAPMO mediates the relationship between organizational innovation, open innovation, and innovation capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, different values, tools and practices promoted by maker culture have been adopted in formal educational settings with the aim of reinvigorating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have also engaged with maker culture to explore its potentialities regarding education, entrepreneurship and innovation. However, these collaborations with various stakeholders are not always smooth and educators need to deal with significant challenges that arise in these engagements, despite the problem-solving learning opportunities that they can offer their students. This paper presents the results of a case study that dealt with these issues through the establishment of an open and collaborative learning ecosystem (OCLE) between different educators, students and external stakeholders. The empirical work was based on thirty-three semi-structured interviews across four countries, eight focus groups and a final participatory workshop. The study argues that maker culture can offer several potentialities for pushing forward an integrative vision of STEM education as well as other disciplines from social sciences and humanities. An emphasis is placed on how tertiary education can benefit greatly from the adoption of OCLEs and how these communities of practices can encourage an education oriented to meeting societal challenges. The paper also warns that these kinds of interventions face significant organisational challenges in HEIs that demand significant institutional recognition and support to overcome this organisational resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This practice-led research is aimed at the creation of a garment containing the maker's wish to transfer powerful energy to the wearer. Using autoethnography as a method, this article is based on my journal. Free-hand experimenting leads to a knot which, unintentionally, conveys the impression of a bold embodiment of energy; this is then consciously developed into a dress meant to establish a strong material connection between maker and wearer. The knot sets the maker-garment-wearer relationship in an ambiguous position, that is, between the visible and the invisible. The knot's hidden folds and structure constitute a node of energy for the realization of thought, a notion paralleled by the fact that knots are frequently used in magic. As a garment maker and researcher, I have explored the materialization of intention through design and making; here, the knot is the perfect embodiment of my wish to communicate unseen energy to the visible world through the creation of an extraordinary dress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hands-on activities and makerspaces have rapidly gained popularity in recent years. One of the reasons for this is that they have the potential to stimulate interest and identity development in STEM or STEAM. Taiwan has organized many technology and science competitions for students to raise their interest and creativity in the past years. The iSTEAM contest in Taiwan plan to assist public schools in rural areas to develop students' capability in making activities. To motivate rural students to experience an integrated science, technology, engineering, art, and math (iSTEAM) contest, this study invited rural school students to prepare for and join a competition focusing on making miniature models. The related variables relevant to motivation orientation, such as participants' hands-on making self-efficacy, perceived value, cooperative attitude, and competition preparedness in the iSTEAM contest were explored. Expectedly, with an understanding of the correlates between those variables, the results of this study can be applied to successfully implement other STEAM contests. A total of 187 students who participated in the competition filled in the questionnaire for the survey participants. After invalid questionnaires were excluded, 167 valid questionnaires were obtained. This study adopts the purposive sampling method, based on the value-attitude-behavior model, the quantitative research method was adopted. The results showed that students who participated in the competition had high self-efficacy for making miniature models, appreciated the value that the competition brought them, and had a positive attitude about cooperating with team members as well as preparing for the competition. There is a close and positive correlation between the four constructs of self-efficacy, perceived value, cooperative attitude, and competition preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While school educators are increasingly interested in adopting maker pedagogy, many schools struggle to integrate making with their existing core curriculum because of the difficulty in assessing the learning that occurs in maker classrooms. To address this issue, we collaborated with educators on design-based research focused on assessment in maker classrooms. We investigated assessment approaches that support the process of making. This paper reports on four design principles of assessment in school-based making that emerged from a literature review and the collaborative development process with educators. We discuss the challenges and opportunities for assessment in maker classrooms, as well as strategies to seamlessly embed assessment within a classroom's culture, norms, and activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many organizations and employees to work from home. In such uncertain and unprecedented context, it is crucial for organizations to stimulate their employees' creativity to adapt to new working environment and thus to sustain and improve organizational performance. This paper aims to examine how to stimulate employees' creativity by focusing on their online knowledge sharing (OKS) behaviors, their use of online platforms and their organizations' innovation climate in a working from home (WFH) context because of the lockdown. For empirical analysis, this research uses data from Vietnam – a developing country in the Southeast Asia. Design/methodology/approach: Data are collected from employees working in Ho Chi Minh City but WFH during the COVID-19 lockdown. Structural equation models are used for analyzing the data. Findings: Online platform use and organizational innovation climate are positively associated with creativity directly and indirectly via the mediating roles of internal and external OKS. Research limitations/implications: This research provides policymakers, organizational leaders and managers with an important evidence on how to stimulate creativity by emphasizing the roles of knowledge sharing, online platforms and innovation climate. Accordingly, relevant practical implications are also drawn to sustain or improve organizational performance in the context of WFH context because of COVID-19 lockdown. This research also contributes to knowledge management literature by providing an evidence on the relationships between online platform use, organizational innovation climate, OKS and creativity. Originality/value: This research is among the early attempts that explore the associations between employees' use of online platforms, their organizations' innovation climate, their internal and external OKS behaviors and their creativity in the context of WFH because of a lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the questions of how makerspaces can be drivers for urban circular development and what are the roles of coordinating policy, makers, and materials to achieve success. The network of maker activities in the city of Leuven is a flagship initiative that illustrates the mechanisms that support integrated circular urban production. This study draws on the Pop-Machina project, funded by EC Horizon 2020, which identifies the links between the maker movement and the circular economy in seven European cities. The case study project in Leuven, confirmed as the most impactful amongst those studied in the Pop-Machina project, is examined to assess how local knowledge and policy measures can provide a means of activating a circular maker ecology. Through desk research, spatial urban analysis, and interviews with key stakeholders, this study provides a critical narrative of the development, success factors, and hurdles related to circular making processes in the city. The study introduces the notion of hybrid makerspaces as a manifestation of linking maker activities to create critical mass and share material, human, and spatial resources. It demonstrates how successful hybrid makers are supported by local, national, and international policy on the one hand and by integration with the city’s community, educational, and business groups on the other. It is this constellation of social, political, and spatial conditions that lies at the success of the project.

This study presents seven change management strategies for public libraries: (1) specify the major issue, (2) map the decision cycle, (3) identify circuits and tessellations, (4) target receptive audiences, (5) mobilize civil society support (6) minimize resistance with win-win issues, and (7) maintain legitimizing processes. These strategies are derived from historical case study of a single US case over a 93-year span. The strategies are elaborated using qualitative data from the case. The findings build on existing literature and contribute new knowledge and new methods to the research area. The strategies have practical import for public library managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For nearly three years the Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) has been accused as a "purveyor of pornography" for its cooperative purchasing services – licensing resources from EBSCO, Gale/Cengage, ProQuest and OverDrive – saving money on behalf of libraries and schools across the state. In October 2018 a lawsuit was filed against EBSCO and CLiC by the parents of a student who claimed that their middle-school-aged child was able to access ,"hardcore porn" through the school district's database subscription. This first–person account details how the controversy began and evolved into a full–scale crusade to ban digital content in Colorado's schools and public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]