Our publication titled „Craft and Technology Education in a Rural Area: Insights from the First Year of “Technik Für Kinder Vulkanland” has been published.
Abstract:
This study examines the first year of Technik für Kinder Vulkanland (TfKV), a rural makerspace initiative in South-Eastern Austria, through an exploratory mixed-methods evaluation focusing on parents’ and mentors’ perspectives. The initiative is designed as a weekly club format for children and adolescents aged 7 to 14, complemented by holiday workshops. The evaluation addresses five research questions covering pre-participation expectations and feasibility of the weekly club format (RQ1), pilot experiences after one month of regular attendance (RQ2), medium-term participation experiences after six months (RQ3), holiday workshop formats (RQ4), and reflective perspectives from one mentor and the lead mentor (RQ5). The results show that rural distance is not universally experienced as a barrier; structured weekly continuity is perceived as stabilizing; mentoring quality and intergenerational interaction are central to perceived success; and participation is associated with process-oriented learning, perseverance, and growing confidence in dealing with mistakes, exceeding the primarily motivational effects of episodic exposure formats. At the same time, mentor reflections reveal pedagogical tensions regarding scaffolding practices and instructional orientation, particularly between tool-centered skill development and project-centered meaning-making. Taken together, the findings suggest that the TfKV club format is perceived not merely as a recreational workshop but as a potential regional hub for craft and technology education. The study provides first insights into the viability and developmental dynamics of a community-embedded rural makerspace model that integrates continuity and mentoring structures.
[full paper @ publisher’s homepage]
[draft @ ResearchGate]
Reference: Wolf, D., Ebner, M., Miklós, J. (2026). Craft and Technology Education in a Rural Area: Insights from the First Year of “Technik Für Kinder Vulkanland”. In: Smith, B.K., Borge, M. (eds) Learning and Collaboration Technologies. HCII 2026. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 16731. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-30542-8_22