Pop-up Makerspace Module in Undergraduate Studies Inculcating Entrepreneurial Mindset

This innovative practice work-in-progress study focuses on creating low-cost makerspace module for an undergraduate engineering course. Makerspace aims at creating a cohesive environment where participants learn while being creative. Additionally, it accomplishes twentyfirst century and entrepreneurial mindset learning objectives such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, curiosity and creating value. Undergraduate STEM education is the most relevant field where makerspace can enhance learning process. However, makerspace is considered as a high investment project which can limit its implementation to a very small population of undergraduate students. With proper planning and creativity, educators can expose their students to makerspace without inflating the budget. In this study, a pop-up makerspace module was created for an undergraduate engineering course with a limited budget of $100. The students worked in groups to design, fabricate and verify the product functionality for a tissue engineering application. The module consisted of multiple stages which included brainstorming session, searching the market, design under constraints, select a design using a selection matrix, 3D print and verify the functionality of the product. The results obtained from student survey showed statistically significant improvement in technical, entrepreneurial mindset and 21
^st
century skills. The open responses indicated students were engaged throughout the module and worked as a group to create a successful product. The first iteration of this module was successfully implemented and it is expected to extend such pop-up makerspace modules in other engineering courses as well.