Promoting STEAMH at primary school: a collaborative interdisciplinary project

Abstract

There is a growing call on the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the primary school level, aiming to motivate students to learn these subject matters, in order to correspond to the scientific and technological challenges of an increasingly demanding society. Recently, many studies sustain the importance of extending STEM to STEAM by adding Arts to the previous areas, to better prepare students for real life. In this article, we present a way to promote STEAMH, by integrating Heritage with STEAM. With a qualitative approach and an action research methodology, we intend to investigate how to develop a pedagogical intervention project that fosters STEAMH learning at primary school and local community. It is concluded that it is possible to implement a STEAMH pedagogical intervention project, being necessary to develop a collaborative partnership with local community and local schools.

Interdisciplinary block of learning challenges

“…Such are the benefits of interdisciplinary teaching and learning that at some universities interdisciplinary programs and projects have arisen. For instance, at the University of British Columbia, the UBC Mix Project is a program dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary education across the arts and sciences (Baloy, Fox & Sens, 2014;Costa, 2018;Kaplan Sayi & Kul, 2020;Kilic & Yildirim, 2020). In fact, UBC's strategic plan Place and Promise is stated: 'Through rigorous study within and across disciplines, students acquire the knowledge, inquiry and communication skills, professional abilities, and understanding of other cultures that enhance their personal development and enable them to contribute and lead in a global society,' (UBC, 2012).…”

Promoting interdisciplinarity in primary school in the framework of science education

“…This study is part of a broader pedagogical project entitled "Academy of Science, Art and Heritage" (AcademySAH) designed and supervised by the first author of this paper (Costa & Loureiro, 2016). Created in 2013 at the Instituto Politécnico of Tomar (IPT), it receives children aged 8 to 14 years old, during their school holidays, at the IPT laboratories to develop several STEAMH hands-on workshops in order to promote their interest by these subject matters (Costa & Domingos, 2018b). Since 2015, the AcademySAH also promotes teachers' professional development related to STEAMH.…”

“…Tarpdiscipliniškumo skatinimas vis labiau pastebimas viso pasaulio tarptautinėse ugdymo programose -tuo siekiama geriau parengti mokinius realaus gyvenimo iššūkiams, kylantiems iš vis reiklesnės visuomenės (Abell, Mcdonald, 2006;Costa, Domingos, 2018b;Kim, Bolger, 2017;Rocard et al, 2007). Šios rekomendacijos didina mokytojų motyvaciją atnaujinti praktinio darbo klasėje įgūdžius, siekiant profesinio tobulėjimo (Hewson, 2007;Rocard et al, 2007;Zehetmeie, Krainer, 2011).…”

“…Long, Robert and Davis (2017) sustain that benefits of this integration are related to scientific and economic development of countries. Costa and Domingos (2018b) propose the acronym STEAMH, by adding H of Heritage to STEAM, arguing that Heritage is a very important feature of the real world since its beginning.…”

Promover o ensino da matemática num contexto de formação profissional com STEM

“…Nesta área curricular, o som está enquadrado no domínio "Conhecimento do Meio Natural e Social" e subdomínio "Viver Melhor a Terra". O estudo, aqui apresentado, faz parte de um projeto de intervenção pedagógica mais amplo, com início em 2013 (www.academiacap.ipt.pt), que envolve atividades laboratoriais de STEAMH (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Heritage) promovidas por uma instituição do ensino superior em Portugal (Costa & Domingos, 2018). No âmbito deste projeto, o som foi trabalhado com os participantes nas férias escolares e nas visitas às escolas (Ferreira, Neves, Costa e Teramo, 2017) passando de seguida a ser trabalhado com os professores, no contexto formativo acima descrito, de forma interdisciplinar procurando motivar os professores para também trabalharem a matemática.…”