Literacy Research Cluster

Makerspaces: New Spaces for Children’s Digital Media Production

by Yicong Gao (MA Education student)

The MakEY project, led by Professor Jackie Marsh, has been extended so that it has impacted on young children and their families as they engage with libraries, schools, museums and galleries. This summer we have involved volunteers from our postgraduate programmes as volunteers, helping to facilitate this work. Yicong Gao, found the experience really useful as she describes here:

How did you get involved in the Makerspace volunteering and why did you want to get involved?

As an education student, I have always believed that teaching young children creativity and imagination is more meaningful than teaching them formal lessons in a classroom. At the same time, this kind of activity can promote communication between parents and children, which is why I contacted my tutor to sign up for the Makerspace project as a volunteer.

What have you most enjoyed about the experience so far?

First of all, it is fun to play with children. Secondly, it is very interesting to observe children's behavior, because unexpected things can happen. I found the learning of children, who were willing to communicate, were very strong and beyond my expectations. I saw younger children copying the behaviour and facial expressions of others and my understanding of this has been studied only in articles before, but this time I was able to observe in practice. This was very exciting to me.

Has volunteering helped you understand the UK education context better?

I was surprised that parents just let their children play on their own, since most of the children who participated in the activity were between 2 and 5 years old. Perhaps because of different educational backgrounds, few parents in China would have allowed their children to play alone at such a young age because they think children are too young to do activities independently.

How did you find communication with children and parents?

For communication with children we needed to use simple words and to repeat them and also to speak gently. Communication with parents was more complicated, and some activities need to be explained to the parents, such as using play-doh for electricity. This is my first time communicating with British parents and I was a little nervous at first, but more and more communication made my introduction of the activity more smooth. This is something I am very happy about.

In what ways will being involved in this activity help you in your future career?

I have my own children's training institution in China. One of the purposes of studying education in the UK is to make my company have a deeper understanding of children's education. By taking part in volunteer activity, I got in touch with British educational culture and interesting educational projects. It has greatly inspired me and I think Makerspaces are a good project to introduce to China. I hope to have the opportunity to cooperate and conduct more in-depth international educational and cultural exchanges.

Do you think Makerspaces have a role to play in Chinese education?

Yes，during the lunch break time, I was discussing this with another Chinese volunteer, we both think that Chinese parents (especially Y generation) would be happy for their children to join in with activities and stimulate their vision not limit children's thinking and creativity through rules. It requires children to create new things by themselves, with the emphasis on practical ability, while developing thinking and action. Open spaces can also give children a sense of freedom, and is not as tight and tense as in the classroom.

What would you say to other students about working on the project?

I recommend this activity to future students, especially those in the School of Education, because it is a good opportunity to learn about British parents' parenting style and how parents deal with the relationship with their children.