Lessons Learned Creating Youth Jobs in an Afterschool Maker Space

摘要

Real-world problem solving through "Making" is becoming a popular way to engage youth in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. Making promotes valuable skills including exploration, investigation, and discovery, which engages children in the classroom and may encourage them to pursue STEM fields [4, 17]. Since it is often difficult to infuse Making into students' schedules, this frequently occurs in after-school programs. Unfortunately, not all youth are able to participate in after-school activities due to financial pressures and may instead take jobs in non-technical fields such as food service or retail [15]. These non-technical jobs take time away from making, designing, and tinkering, which can leave them behind their peers who are honing skills for technical career paths.