The Impact of Makerspace within STEM Domains on Creative Confidence, Problem-Solving, and Student Engagement in Elementary Schools in Jerusalem

Objectives: K–12 makerspaces are widely promoted as environments that foster twenty-first-century competencies, yet rigorous causal evidence at the elementary level—particularly across multiple learning outcomes—remains limited. This study examined whether sustained makerspace participation improves elementary students’ creative confidence, problem-solving skills, and engagement during STEM instruction. It was hypothesized that students working in a makerspace would outperform peers following the same curriculum in a conventional classroom. Methods: Sixty sixth-grade students from schools in Jerusalem were selected through simple random sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental makerspace group or a control classroom group. Both groups completed 15 STEM design challenges over a 12-week after-school program during the first semester of the 2024/2025 academic year. Post-test data were collected using three validated questionnaires measuring creative confidence, problem-solving skills, and engagement. Results: MANOVA revealed a statistically significant multivariate effect (p < .05). Follow-up ANOVAs showed significantly higher scores for makerspace students across the measured outcomes. Discriminant function analysis indicated that problem-solving skill was the strongest contributor to group differentiation (β = .852), followed by creative confidence (β = .510) and engagement (β = .441). Conclusions: Elementary makerspaces provide supportive environments that strengthen students’ confidence in their creative abilities, enhance strategic reasoning, and sustain engagement in STEM tasks. Integrating makerspaces into early curricula may accelerate engineering education outcomes, while longitudinal studies are needed to examine the durability of these gains and their influence on later academic achievement.