Understanding Creativity in Making in STEM education

In recent years, STEM and the Maker initiative has received great attention in education. STEM education refers to the integrative study on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with an emphasis on creativity development in its design-make activities. Academic field know very little about “creativity in making”. “Creativity in making” is different from “creativity in design”. It refers to the possible kinds of creativity developed through, from and on the making process. This study aims at understand what creativity in making is, how creative ideas emerge in the making process, and how many kinds of creative making process existed and what they are. This study answers these questions through lesson observations, student interviews and analyses of learning reflections. This study preliminarily find that (1) creativity in making is a kind of improvisational creativity, i.e. many new ideas emerge spontaneously on the spot of making; (2) creativity in making and creativity in design are mutually enhancing and sometimes also mutually hindering; and (3) there are at least 4 levels/kinds of creativity in making.