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Preparing students for the digital era: lessons learned from FabLabs in school

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  • Martina Ferracane
  • Veronica Ballerini
  • Adriano De Falco

Abstract

In this study, we randomly expose Italian high school students from different majors to creative activities taught by FabLabs and assess the impact of this exposition on students’ career aspirations,university choice, interest and confidence in STEM university courses, attitude towards STEM subjects, creativity, and grit. We find that giving students the possibility to join FabLab activities hasoverall a positive impact on all the variables assessed, except for career aspirations and creativity. This working paper represents a preliminary assessment and is limited to estimating the effect ofhaving the possibility to join FabLab activities. A refined analysis will also investigate the effect on students who have participated in the activities, for whom we expect to find a stronger positive effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Martina Ferracane & Veronica Ballerini & Adriano De Falco, 2022. "Preparing students for the digital era: lessons learned from FabLabs in school," RSCAS Working Papers 2022/65, European University Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2022/65
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Causal inference; Creativity; FabLab; Grit; STEM; digital skills;
    All these keywords.

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