Math + Making: Exploring The Potential of Digital Fabrication to Improve Mathematics Education in Middle School FabLabs

Drawing from theories such as Piaget’s Constructivism and Papert’s Constructionism, I explore the intersection between mathematics and hands-on experiential learning via making using digital fabrication in this thesis. On one hand, this paper highlights the Maker Movement, a growing national and international phenomenon that embodies tinkering, inventing and innovation in local communities. On the other hand, this paper emphasizes middle school students’ mediocre performance in mathematics and science in the United States, the lack of understanding in what a career in technology and engineering means, the eventual disheartened attitude to pursue a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), and the probable lack of talent in the STEM industry in the near future. To address these problems, I have narrowed my research focus to mathematics education at the middle school level, and how the introduction of digital fabrication into traditional mathematics lessons could be a game changer in student and teacher engagement in the classroom. Hence, this led to my research question: To what extent is and can mathematics be integrated into middle school students’ design and engineering experiences with digital fabrication in the FabLab?

This paper investigates how “making” has entered the education sector, specifically focussing on lessons in current Fabrication Laboratories (FabLabs) in two middle schools in northern California. I interviewed middle school FabLab teachers and conducted empirical observations to examine the amount of mathematics used, explicitly and implicitly, in the FabLab environment. Digital fabrication in classrooms is still a nascent field, and there are missed opportunities and gaps that we can fill to improve the FabLab to foster deeper learning.