Abstract

Maker movement has recently gained worldwide recognition. Educating children in making activities has also become advocated. Studies have reported experiences on engaging children in making activities and the importance of nurturing a maker identity in children has been advocated. This study reveals findings from a case where, in the spirit of genuine participation of children, 10--12-year-old children gained initial experiences in design and making activities within an elective mathematics class as part of their primary school education. The study shows that children adopted multiple subject positions and relied on various discourses when describing their experiences. We argue that none of them developed a designer or a maker identity as such during the project, whereas many of the children reported of having developed some sort of meaningful relationship to design and making. We argue that this is a valuable outcome per se. Implications for HCI research and design are discussed.