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<p>This study aimed to explore how elementary school students identify environmental issues in their daily lives and solve them through maker activities within the context of an environmental club. Recent discussions in environmental education have raised concerns that simply delivering knowledge about environmental problems may lead to feelings of helplessness and eco-anxiety. To address this, it is essential to provide students with hands-on problem-solving experiences closely tied to real life, thereby enhancing their sense of efficacy. In this study, students independently recognized the issue of energy waste caused by classroom doors not closing properly during heating and cooling operations. They engaged in designing, constructing, and installing an automatic door-closing device using pulleys as a form of technological problem solving addressing energy loss in the classroom. This immersive problem-solving process was analyzed through a qualitative case study. Participants were 5th-grade students from an environmental club at an elementary school in South Korea. Data were collected through class observations, field notes, student artifacts, and interviews, and were analyzed using coding and categorization. The results revealed that students developed a sense of efficacy as they went through the processes of problem identification and resolution, iterative design and upgrading, collaborative communication, and sharing and expanding their ideas. Tangible outcomes were observed, such as increased door-closing times. The process served as a meaningful learning experience that fostered students’ creativity, self-directed learning, engineering thinking, and collaboration skills. This study presents a practical case of addressing environmental issues through design thinking-based maker education. It demonstrates the potential of integrating maker activities into environmental education, highlighting the value of students taking initiative in defining and solving real-world problems. The findings reveal that students developed increased self-efficacy, sustained engagement, and authentic learning outcomes through their involvement in hands-on engineering tasks. The study contributes to environmental and technology education by demonstrating how student-led technological interventions can foster agency and ecological responsibility in young learners.</p>

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Integrating environmental education and maker practices: a student-driven project to reduce energy loss

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月26日

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  • Mi Ryu,
  • Ingyu Go

摘要

This study aimed to explore how elementary school students identify environmental issues in their daily lives and solve them through maker activities within the context of an environmental club. Recent discussions in environmental education have raised concerns that simply delivering knowledge about environmental problems may lead to feelings of helplessness and eco-anxiety. To address this, it is essential to provide students with hands-on problem-solving experiences closely tied to real life, thereby enhancing their sense of efficacy. In this study, students independently recognized the issue of energy waste caused by classroom doors not closing properly during heating and cooling operations. They engaged in designing, constructing, and installing an automatic door-closing device using pulleys as a form of technological problem solving addressing energy loss in the classroom. This immersive problem-solving process was analyzed through a qualitative case study. Participants were 5th-grade students from an environmental club at an elementary school in South Korea. Data were collected through class observations, field notes, student artifacts, and interviews, and were analyzed using coding and categorization. The results revealed that students developed a sense of efficacy as they went through the processes of problem identification and resolution, iterative design and upgrading, collaborative communication, and sharing and expanding their ideas. Tangible outcomes were observed, such as increased door-closing times. The process served as a meaningful learning experience that fostered students’ creativity, self-directed learning, engineering thinking, and collaboration skills. This study presents a practical case of addressing environmental issues through design thinking-based maker education. It demonstrates the potential of integrating maker activities into environmental education, highlighting the value of students taking initiative in defining and solving real-world problems. The findings reveal that students developed increased self-efficacy, sustained engagement, and authentic learning outcomes through their involvement in hands-on engineering tasks. The study contributes to environmental and technology education by demonstrating how student-led technological interventions can foster agency and ecological responsibility in young learners.