Making Digital Systems Understandable through Primary STEAM Design
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Primary pupils encounter digital devices long before they can explain how an input becomes an output. This conceptual article develops a STEAM lesson architecture that makes simple digital systems available for prediction, modelling and revision. Selected engineering-design standards and scholarship on integrated education inform a design analysis organised around representational transparency. The resulting architecture links a human need, a physical model, an explicit processing rule and a digital or simulated response. A worked classroom design involving an accessible classroom sign illustrates the relationship between scientific observation, technology, engineering constraints, visual communication and mathematical reasoning. The analysis also identifies evidence that can distinguish an attractive artefact from an explained system. No classroom trial or measured improvement is reported. The contribution is an instructional design proposal whose feasibility, accessibility and learning value require empirical investigation. The architecture is intended to support informed local adaptation rather than prescribe a national curriculum.
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225685612
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