Design-based research and design thinking in the Fab Lab: Developing an intervention to spark empowering making activities among children and adolescents

To thrive in a rapidly changing world, children need opportunities to develop agency. Fab Labs and makerspaces, equipped with digital fabrication tools, offer empowering settings where children can design and build their own creations while developing STEM competencies. This study investigates how making activities in such settings can foster agency by engaging children as active participants in a co-creative and participatory intervention grounded in Self-Determination Theory. Using a design-based research approach, three iterations of a four-week workshop series were conducted with N = 66 children and adolescents aged 9–13. Design thinking provided a guiding structure for children to generate and pursue their own ideas and for mentors to support the open-ended processes. Findings show that participants successfully engaged in self-directed and independent making activities, experienced agency, and continued their engagement. The study demonstrates the potential of Fab Labs to foster self-regulation and highlights the importance of iterative, participatory approaches for developing empowering interventions. It contributes to promoting equity in informal STEM education and offers both theoretical and practical implications, as well as further avenues for research.