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The dissertation investigates how STEM-based making activities can be deliberately designed to sustain student engagement and promote learning, while recognising the role of individual differences, such as spatial ability. Central to the work is a theoretical framework that connects seven core constructs (lesson design, sensory input, sympathetic activation, psychological distance, spatial ability, learning, and engagement) into a causal chain that can guide the design of interventions to reduce school dropout and enhance achievement.
The overarching aim is to develop a theoretical framework that integrates empirical findings on learning and engagement in STEM making activities with insights from cognitive neuroscience and physiology. This aim is articulated through two research questions: RQ1 asks how making activities can be shaped to facilitate engagement and STEM learning while accounting for learner variability; RQ2 asks how the constructs above can be theoretically linked. These overarching research questions are investigated across six articles:
The first article demonstrates that movement and sound level extracted from video data predict electrodermal activity (EDA), thereby providing a neurophysiologically grounded proxy for engagement.
Article two develops a nine-item scale that combines spatial ability and school engagement into qualitative STEM statements with good psychometric properties (the STEM-scale) and discusses how making activities can be used for differentiation based on this scale.
Article three investigates how psychological distance affects STEM learning and engagement, and develops preliminary design principles for STEM making activities. This is done through design-based research through 16 workshops with a qualitative approach.
The fourth article investigates engagement and STEM learning in remote making activities, based on the preliminary design principles from article three, using of different representations. These design principles are revised in this article as iteration 2 in the design-based research framework, using a mixed methods design.
The fifth article ties together results from the previous two articles by testing STEM learning during making activities, guided by the design principles from the third and fourth articles, and comparing it with more classical STEM learning in a randomised controlled experiment. A final multiple regression model accounts for spatial ability and prior knowledge. Finally, the method from Article 1 is used to analyse video from the two conditions and check for significant differences in student movement and sound level to indicate engagement differences. The results show that both STEM learning and engagement were higher in making activities than in non-making activities.
The sixth article seeks to validate the results from the previous interventional articles for a more general student group, as Articles 3-5 have participants with above-average STEM engagement and spatial ability. The role of psychological distance in STEM learning and engagement in making activities according to the revised design principles from Articles 3-5 is investigated, and STEM recruitment is assessed. This is the last iteration of the design-based research project, which also uses a mixed-methods design, and more established design principles are defined in the multi-modal making model (3M model).
Collectively, the findings argue that well structured making activities, which begin with explicit STEM concept teaching, employ multimodal, low psychological distance materials, and are evaluated with physiologically validated engagement metrics, can counteract disengagement and dropout in K-12 education and improve learning. The framework serves as a bridge between neuroscience and educational practice, offering explanatory power and practical design guidance to teachers, curriculum developers, and policymakers seeking to enrich STEM learning environments.
In summary, this dissertation presents a coherent, empirically substantiated model (the Sensory Learning Model) that links lesson design, sensory experience, and physiological activation to the twin outcomes of engagement and learning, thereby advancing theory and practice in contemporary science education.
