The Seek & Share Resources Tool: Measuring a Learning Practice of Making

Abstract

Abstract The maker movement has grown rapidly in educational contexts during the past decade. The field now needs valid, reliable measurement tools to capture learning that occurs in maker-based activities. In this study, facilitators and researchers from five organizations engaged in a codesign process to develop a tool measuring how learners seek and share resources while making. We describe our process of collaboratively developing, testing, and revising the Seek & Share Resources Tool and the coding protocol with strong validity. Two researchers coded 50 videos depicting learners ages 0-14 engaging in diverse maker-based activities yielding high inter-rater reliability for the tool. The Seek & Share Resources Tool offers a valid, reliable measure of learning behavior in making and our process may be replicated in future research of rigorous measurement tool design.