Peer-Reviewed Research · Published 2025
When 
Invent,
They Believe They Can.
A landmark 3-year study found that hands-on making with Makey Makey produces significantly stronger gains in STEM confidence for girls than boys — at exactly the age it matters most.
The Challenge
Girls lose interest in STEM before high school — and we can change that early.
Research consistently shows that gender disparities in STEM begin in childhood. By the time girls reach secondary school, many have already formed limiting beliefs about their abilities in science and technology.
The good news: early, hands-on intervention works. When girls ages 9–12 are positioned as inventors and engineers, their self-belief transforms. This is the window. Makey Makey opens it.
Significantly fewer women than men pursue careers in Science, Technology, and Engineering
(Morais Maceira, 2017 · cited in Santos et al., 2025)
Ages 9–12
the critical window when STEM identity forms
The Research
A 3-year peer-reviewed study. Real schools. Real results.
Researchers at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona embedded Makey Makey into a Design Thinking project-based learning program across 12 public primary schools. They measured self-efficacy and motivation in Science, Technology, and Design — before and after — across 318 students over three years.
0
students participated
grades 4–6, ages 9–12
0
public schools
Barcelona, Spain
0
years of data
2021 · 2022 · 2023
0
girl participants
tracked individually by gender
Key Findings — Girl Students
Girls didn't just improve. They outperformed every expectation.
Compared to boys, girls showed larger improvements across more measures. Here's what the numbers actually mean.
What is 'effect size'?
A measure of how meaningful the change was — not just whether it happened. Researchers consider 0.30+ to be educationally significant. These results hit 0.41.
What does p < 0.001 mean?
Less than a 1-in-1,000 chance the result is a coincidence. The scientific gold standard is p < 0.05. These results far exceed that — we can be 99.9% confident.
What is the 1–5 scale?
Students rated agreement on a scale of 1 (Not at all) to 5 (Definitely yes). The before/after scores below show real shifts in how girls see themselves.
"I can design a technological invention"
Girls moved from 'I'm not sure I can' to 'I think I can' — a meaningful confidence shift in engineering identity.
"I have asked for or sought information about science before"
Girls went from rarely seeking out science to actively pursuing it — the hallmark of a student who sees themselves as a scientist.
"I think I am good at technology"
Girls who started with moderate tech confidence came out with strong tech confidence — and this gain was significantly larger than boys' in the same program.
"The 'Makers a les Aules' sessions had a more positive overall impact on girl students. This is evident not only because girls showed significant improvements on a greater number of items, but also because the magnitude of those improvements was larger compared to boys."
— Santos et al. (2025), International Journal of Technology and Design Education
The Program
Five sessions. Real invention. Real confidence.
Students engage in a structured Design Thinking journey — empathizing with a real-world problem, brainstorming solutions, and building an interactive prototype using Makey Makey and Scratch. No prior experience required.
Empathize & Define
Students explore a real-world problem — like ocean pollution — and define what they want to solve.
Ideate
Teams brainstorm solutions and build a 'wall of ideas' with sticky notes and collaborative discussion.
Prototype
Students choose features for their invention and sketch their technological prototype design.
Build & Test
Using Makey Makey + Scratch, students bring their prototype to life as an interactive invention.
Demo
Teams present their inventions to peers, reflecting on what worked and what they'd improve next.
Notably, girls showed marked improvements in self-efficacy following the intervention, suggesting that the design of the activities in the 'Makers a les Aules' may help counteract early gender disparities in STEM. These findings reinforce the importance of implementing inclusive, learner-centered pedagogies at a stage when students are forming foundational beliefs about their abilities and interests in STEM.
— Patricia Santos, Khadija El Aadmi, Miriam Calvera-Isabal & Amaia Rodríguez
International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Springer Nature, 2025
Built for Educators
Designed for classrooms. Proven in schools.
K-12 Teachers
Bring invention into your classroom with no coding background required. Makey Makey works with any conductive material — fruit, foil, pencil graphite. Your students do the rest.
See classroom resources →School Administrators
Support gender equity goals with an evidence-backed tool. This peer-reviewed study provides the documentation you need to justify curriculum investment and grant applications.
Download the study →Curriculum Coordinators
Makey Makey scales from individual classrooms to district-wide STEM programs. Kits are reusable, durable, and curriculum-agnostic — compatible with science, technology, art, and more.
Request a quote →Free for Educators
Classroom-ready resources, delivered to your inbox.
Get the lesson plans, rubrics, and family-night activity guides built around the study — plus new research findings as they're published. No spam, ever.
- Standards-aligned invention lesson plans
- Gender-equity facilitation guides
- First look at new peer-reviewed studies
Give every girl in your classroom a reason to say: "I'm an inventor."
Join thousands of educators using Makey Makey to close the STEM gender gap — one invention at a time.
Santos, P., El Aadmi, K., Calvera-Isabal, M., & Rodríguez, A. (2025). Fostering students' motivation and self-efficacy in science, technology, engineering, and design through design thinking and making in project-based learning: a gender-perspective study in primary education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 35, 1293–1319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-025-10001-6