ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 discusses making space for literacy and the arts in makerspaces and literacy-arts lessons focusing on design thinking principles. We begin this chapter with an overview of maker education and the design thinking processes to foster learners’ creativity and innovation. We provide examples of how experiential learning through the design thinking process, literacy, and the arts can enhance learners meaning-making and multimodal compositions. Based on research, STEM, literacy, and the arts—a term we use is STEAM + Literacy (STEAM+L)—are discussed. STEAM+L has great potential for creating inclusive environments that foster creativity and innovation. Makerspaces, whether traditional or alternative learning spaces, can provide a culture for science, technology, engineering, art, math, and literacy (STEAM +L) to be embedded in instructional design and activities to foster and enhance learners’ creative meaning-making. Integrating literacy and the arts with maker education and design thinking creates a powerful and synergistic approach to learning, creativity, and innovation. The chapter concludes with a discussion about speaking, listening, and podcast productions. Podcasting provides learners with a powerful platform to purposefully express their understandings and creative products to an authentic audience. Chapter 9 concludes with a discussion about making connections between making in a makerspace and literacy and how the arts are multifaceted and offer exciting opportunities for creative expression and meaning-making. By combining the power of making with the expressive potential of literacy and the arts, learners can engage in authentic multimodal learning experiences.
