Physical space and materials we work with, as well as people we interact with affect the design and making processes. These aspects in relation to 3D designing in alignment with 3D printing need considerable exploration within Child-Computer interaction (CCI) research community. We conducted our case study by collecting 9-full-day-observation and interview data and examining 3D modeling and 3D printing activities, as work duties of 15-17-years-old summer trainees organized at the university. We identified, inspired by nexus analysis, different discourses circulating around these activities of novice young people and how the discourses are intermingled with the space, the materials, and the task at hand in complex ways, constructing and shaping the experience of the young participants. In our research and design implications, by signifying the impact of the people, challenges, tasks, spaces and tools, we provide recommendations for maintaining children's engagement in digital fabrication, significantly 3D designing and 3D printing, activities.

The importance of familiarizing children with the Maker Movement, Makerspaces and Maker mindset has been acknowledged. In this literature review, we examine the complex social action of children, aged from 7 to 17 (K-12), engaging in technology Making activities as it is seen in the extant literature. The included papers contain empirical data from actual digital Making workshops and diverse research projects with children, conducted in both formal and non-formal/informal settings, such as schools or museums, libraries, Fab Labs and other makerspaces. We utilized the theoretical lens of nexus analysis and its concepts of interaction order and historical body, and as a result of our analysis, we report best practices and helping and hindering factors. Two gaps in the current knowledge were identified: (1) the current research focuses on success stories instead of challenges in the working, and, (2) histories of the participants and interaction between them are very rarely in the focus of the existing studies or reported in detail, even though they significantly affect what happens and what is possible to happen in Making sessions.

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging for Fab Labs and makerspaces where the use of digital fabrication machines and working with physical materials in collaboration with others are at the heart of the activities. We have been actively promoting children’s technology education both by training local teachers and by working with children themselves. The restrictions have resulted in limiting the number of participants or moving to online working, or even closing the workspaces and cancelling the events. To continue our work, we needed to explore new solutions for the situation. We have provided online training for teachers, experimented with working in family groups and fully online, while access to the digital fabrication machines and children’s engagement in online activities were the largest challenges we encountered. We report in this paper our experiences with different solutions as well as challenges we have faced, both as regards technology education of children and collecting research data related to that.

Despite the increasing demand for non-formal science learning activities, few studies report on practitioners' perspectives and experiences with designing and implementing such activities worldwide. This paper focuses on their challenges by drawing upon twenty-two interviews with practitioners involved in diverse science learning activities in various non-formal settings in seven European countries. By including diverse activities and settings, this study contributes to the existing knowledge base, addresses the aforementioned gap in the literature, and informs future practices. Our findings suggest that despite the existing and celebrated diversity, practitioners face similar challenges related to (a) the activities' organisation and management, (b) the competencies required to run such activities, and (c) the attitudes held by the parties involved in them. Direct interview quotes exemplify each theme, further pinpointing the interconnection of multiple factors that inform the organisation and implementation of non-formal science learning activities. The findings allowed for a deeper understanding of challenges reported in the literature and shed light on the challenges voiced by the practitioners including the multiple competencies required and the workload. We conclude with a discussion foregrounding the need to build a knowledge base of shared practices in the field of non-formal science learning.