Evaluating a makerspace visiting program for schools at a University of Teacher Education

In this paper, we describe a preliminary study that has been conducted to evaluate a makerspace visiting program for regional schools of compulsory education at the University of Teacher Education St. Gallen in Switzerland. We describe the program setup as well as the challenges since its launch in 2015. A survey among the teachers that visited the program with their students collected data about the teachers’ personal information, their experiences during the visit, the impact on their teaching as well as their wishes for a further development of the program. Findings include that the makerspace activities were regarded as highly curriculum-relevant. Many teachers introduced similar activities in their own classrooms. The study shows, that the highly instructional activities, which are unlike a typical makerspace environment, were a successful approach to increase acceptance of both faculty members and teachers. Lastly, we discuss how the program could be further developed.