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Innovative STEAM Pathways: Centering Mathematics, Supporting Equity, and Leveraging Other Disciplines Primarily as Tools—Through an Electronic Platform

Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Through the STEAM Connect Project (ERASMUS+), we aimed to inspire secondary school teachers to emphasize key concepts in mathematics, physics, music, biology, visual arts, and electronics through innovative hands-on learning activities. At the center of these activities was the Circuit Playground Express board, developed by Adafruit Industries—an open-source hardware company. Equipped with various sensors, it enables the creation of sound effects using its MEMS microphone, light-based interactions through its phototransistor, motion detection via its built-in accelerometer, and temperature measurements via its thermistor. As an all-in-one tool, it empowers teachers at all levels—not just in secondary education—to design dynamic, interactive lessons that engage diverse learners and promote inclusive understanding across multiple disciplines. Building on this foundation, the present study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to teaching mathematics—primarily in primary education—through a STEAM pedagogical strategy. The focus is on developing logical and mathematical reasoning while simultaneously encouraging creative expression through the arts and music. It explores the use of the Circuit Playground as a pedagogical tool, with particular attention to strategies that foster active participation, scaffold conceptual understanding, and respond to the diverse needs of young learners. This presentation includes a Skateboard Challenge—a learning activity in which children balance on a wooden board placed over a PVC pipe to generate and reproduce pre-programmed songs. By adjusting the board’s angles and positions, they engage with core mathematical concepts while developing coordination, rhythm, tempo, and timing—skills essential for musical interpretation. This integration of mathematics into a physical task strengthens their spatial reasoning, problem-solving abilities, and physical awareness. By showcasing this activity, we aim to demonstrate how mathematics can serve as an important element in a multidisciplinary learning experience—interacting meaningfully with creative expression in art and music, as well as with scientific thinking across the natural and human sciences.
Authors: DORDING, Carole, BUSANA, Gilbert, MEYERS, Christian, REUTER, Robert, SIRY, Christina, KREIS, Yves
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7110539045
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