Students’ experienced learning from co-invention projects in the context of the Innokas programming and robotics tournament

Abstract Transdisciplinary invention projects based on traditional and digital fabrication technologies engage young people in designing and making complex artifacts and constitute a central aspect of future-oriented education. In Finland, comprehensive school students (aged 7–15) from all over the country can practice their inventive skills in the annual Innokas programming and robotics tournament. However, little is known about how students’ learning manifests in the context of programming and robotics tournaments. To fill this research gap, this study was conducted to examine students’ co-invention processes and the nature of the artifacts invented for the 2021 Innokas tournament. We analyzed the inventions produced, traced the co-invention processes, and examined the design roles and learning experiences of the team members. The data were obtained from semi-structured student interviews (n = 30) and included documents (videos, invention plans, and digital process diaries) that 10 teams generated during the co-invention processes. We analyzed the data via qualitative content analysis. The results provide multifaceted knowledge regarding material prototyping in the iterative co-invention processes and the types of inventions that the teams created. The team members played various design roles, and their tasks were mostly shared. The teams rarely decided on the roles beforehand, but different team members could play the roles at some point in the work. The students’ interview responses indicated that they learned technological, social, and process skills during the co-invention process. The problems encountered during the process were related to collaboration and project management and to technological challenges.