This literature review shows what, where, and how OSH is being used in PK-12 learning. The OSH technologies included in this review are robotics, science lab equipment, 3D printers, and e-textiles. It is concluded that these technologies are shown to further students’ learning by enabling them to build the technologies themselves.
Open-source hardware (OSH) is described by the Open Source Hardware Association as “hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design”. Perceived advantages of using an open source approach to hardware include innovation and evolution of the hardware, ability to be scrutinized with helpful feedback for better engineering, a community that helps with troubleshooting, lowered barriers of entry so to increase competition for companies to improve their products, and the potential for personalization.
This literature review looks at how open-source hardware technologies are being used in PK-12 (pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) formal and informal education programs.Each technology is given their own section, each being split further into school level (Multiple, Elementary, Middle, High) and split further yet by the intent of the reviewed literature (study/workshop, presenting a technology, or lesson plans/databases). Figures included are the school level at which these studies are conducted, nationalities from which these papers originate from, research questions of several studies, and various data collected, such as the duration of the studies, age of the participants, and number of participants. The research questions for this literature review are as follows:
What open-source hardware is being used in the PK-12 education system?
Where is open-source hardware being used in the PK-12 education system?
How is open-source hardware being used in the PK-12 education system?
This literature review was made from the contributions of student researchers at the Playful Learning Lab, thus different researchers researched a given topic in different ways, all using various keywords primarily in Google Scholar. The following sections are the result of their work