Makerspaces for Inclusive Education

Academic makerspaces have been shown to foster creativity and innovation, as they provide conditions for novel thinking to challenging problems. The capability to foster rich discussions, robust ideas, and unique cross-discipline collaborations and approaches stems directly from the diversity of people, their backgrounds and perspectives, as well as their interests, which become lively in the makerspace. This project leverages the creativity and communities of two makerspaces located in two major higher education institutions, to address the need for educational tools and materials for STEM education of students with visual disabilities. Higher education students who participated in this challenge formed multidisciplinary teams to create novel accessible, affordable devices containing inclusive technology to foster inclusive learning environments. This work is an example of how educational innovation and engineering can merge in a project mediated by makerspaces, culminating not only in the generation of the products expected, but also in valuable outcomes for higher education students who participated in this challenge-based experience.