E-textiles are textiles that integrate various materials such as sensors and power sources directly into the fabrics to enable detection and transmission of data. In education, e-textiles can be used to teach students using hands-on demonstrations of concepts involving electronics and coding. This study was created to test the effectiveness of e-textile workshops when used to teach related skills in undergraduate age levels. During our study, we conducted an interactive workshop with 12 students designed to teach basic circuit design and sewing skills to undergraduate students and increase their interest in these topics. Our participants were led through an activity where they used conductive thread and mechanical components to modify a regular fabric glove into an e-textile. During our study, students reported being interested in e-textiles and received high scores on a circuit design and sewing knowledge quiz after the activity. We found a statistically significant increase in several measures, including participants’ self-reported knowledge and enjoyment of circuit design and enjoyment of sewing. Using the data collected from our study, we plan to design a teaching module that could be deployed and further evaluated in a classroom or extra-curricular setting to teach introductory electronics skills at an undergraduate level.
