Evidence-Based and Makerpsaced: Preservice Teachers' Dispositions, Perceptions, and Preparedness to Teach Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities

The purpose of this action research project was to explore the perceptions, practices, and roles that a team of six (6) preservice teachers developed regarding make-based learning and teaching students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. During the course of the study, participants enrolled in a seminar course that involved weekly clinical visits to the makerspace inside a separate public school for students with exceptional emotional and behavioral needs. They also spent one afternoon per month designing and carrying out projects in a university makerspace. Data collection included observation forms that participants completed after the clinical school visits, written assignments, and individual interviews. Narrative analysis and structural coding were used to analyze data. Three beliefs emerged across participants: (1) making can benefit students with emotional and behavioral disabilities, (2) evidence-based practices have limited value in a classroom, (3) instructional time in a makerspace should be used for making.