#191: A Common Language for Infrastucturing Maker Education: Mapping Stakeholder Challenges and Opportunities using a Five-Dimensional Framework

The promise of maker education is frequently constrained by entrenched educational infrastructures. Efforts to create sustainable change, a process known as infrastructuring, require a deep and shared understanding of systemic challenges and opportunities. However, discourse among stakeholders can be diffuse, hindering collective action. To address this, we propose a five-dimensional analytic framework—epistemological, pedagogical, social, material-technological, and organizational—as a tool for mapping the landscape of maker education. We convened a conference of diverse stakeholders and analyzed their roundtable discussions about the future of maker education. Preliminary findings reveal that stakeholders’ articulations of core problems and potential solutions align with the five dimensions of our framework, even without its explicit introduction. This suggests the framework's potential as a tool to help communities surface, structure, and formalize their grounded knowledge, fostering a common language vital for intentional infrastructuring work.