Over the past decade, makerspaces have been increasingly incorporated into schools as venues for innovative and interdisciplinary instruction. At the same time, school makerspace research has increased, and much is now known about how makerspaces support students learning a range of skills, content, and practices. However, given the emergent nature of school makerspace research, there is still a pressing need to characterize the development and progress of school makerspace research as well as to point out worthwhile pathways for future school makerspace research. In this article, we characterize the foundations of school makerspace research by: (a) identifying seminal researcher- and practitioner-focused publications and describing and analyzing their impact on the field, (b) reviewing a selection of noteworthy recent school makerspace research, and (c) discussing promising directions for school makerspace research in the future. Our goal is to provide a concise resource for researchers and practitioners working in the field of school makerspace research and a clear orientation for those who wish to conduct school makerspace research in the future.

Proportional reasoning is a crosscutting concept identified as necessary for student success in upper-level mathematics as well as science, technology, and engineering. Research on middle-grade mathematics learning shows that students tend to develop stronger understandings of mathematical concepts when they learn through constructionist real-world projects that are relevant and meaningful to them. In this qualitative exploratory research study, we developed and implemented a Challenge-Based Learning through Making project for a middle school engineering class to investigate how students demonstrate their understanding of proportional reasoning through designing and making physical and digital artifacts, mentored by industry experts, and within the context of a school makerspace. Our findings showed that students accurately represented their understanding of proportionality through their digital artifacts more than any other modality available, contrasting previous findings in the relevant literature. Findings regarding the integration of professional technology for digital 3D modeling, mentorship of industry experts, and the prevalence of mathematical estimation in digital modeling provide avenues for further research vis-a-vis the role of expert mentorship in middle school STEM design challenges and mathematical estimation in spatial reasoning for design. Implications for the practice and the field of STEM learning are discussed.

Education for sustainable development requires innovative pedagogies to equip students with the competencies to address complex environmental challenges. This study examines the use of ChallengeBased Learning (CBL) to foster an understanding of sustainability as a transversal (cross-cutting) competence among undergraduates at a private university in Mexico, within a global sustainability context. An extensive literature review highlights the importance of real-world, collaborative learning in developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative skills essential for sustainability. Over two semesters, the CBL intervention engaged students in addressing real-world challenges, including energy consumption, waste management, water conservation, pollution control, and plastic reduction. Students $(\mathbf{N} \boldsymbol{\approx} \mathbf{1 5 0})$ worked in teams to develop 36 original projects targeting these issues. A mixed-methods approach was employed to evaluate outcomes, including pre- and post-surveys of sustainability knowledge and skills, as well as qualitative reflections. Results showed statistically significant gains in students' self-reported sustainability competencies, including a 48 % increase in understanding of sustainability concepts and a 53 % improvement in their ability to propose practical environmental solutions. Additionally, 80 % of students agreed that CBL made sustainability more tangible and personally meaningful than traditional classes. The results of this study revealed that CBL is an effective pedagogy for sustainability education, bridging theoretical knowledge with practical action and fostering the holistic competencies needed to advance sustainable development.