Reimagining the Mathematics Curriculum Through a Cross-Curricular and Maker Education Lens

Introduction

In the past 10 years, makerspaces have gained significant traction in K-12 schools (Sator & Bullock, 2017; Stager, 2014), and teaching through makerspaces is seen as an avenue to achieve the goals of re-imagined pedagogy in mathematics education (Bullock & Sator, 2018; Halverson & Sheridan, 2014; Kafai et al., 2014). In the traditional classroom, young children’s problem-solving experiences have been limited to problems that follow a specific procedure (taught in class) or a defined path (English & Watters, 2004). Children are rarely provided with opportunities to interpret a problem, or to find the solution to ill-defined problems by identifying, visualizing, modelling, and evaluating possible solutions (English & Watters, 2004). English and Watters (2004) explained that “mathematical modelling takes children beyond basic problem solving where meaning must be made from symbolically described word problems, to authentic situations that need to be interpreted and described in mathematical ways” (p. 336). The adoption of makerspace learning and teaching within formal education “is the deliberate positioning of student learning in contexts that require the drawing together of skills and knowledge from the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to create, construct, [model, solve a problem] and critique a product or artefact” (Blackley et al., 2017, p. 23).