Makerspaces and virtual reality

Abstract

As part of the wider EU MakEY project on ‘enhancing digital literacy and creativity’ the study reported on in this chapter explored how makerspace-style workshops can provide the opportunity for children to play and make in relation to emerging virtual reality (VR) technologies and software. The literature review outlines two areas, firstly, what is known about VR in children’s lives, and secondly how making can be used as a means of knowledge generation. These two areas set the context for our study that explored children’s engagement with a variety of experimental ideas created to allow them to make and play with physical and virtual materials and spaces. The findings provide insight into how children learnt about the affordances of VR and also how the experience of making with physical materials provided to be as much of an immersive experience as that of virtual reality. The outcomes of the project provide a contribution to the very limited amount of research that has been undertaken about children’s use of VR for entertainment, play and creativity.