Implementation of a STEAM education project in a private portuguese basic school during SARS-COV-2 pandemic

Abstract

Abstract

STEM education is a relatively new area that aims for an integrated and interdisciplinary teaching and learning between scientific disciplines from different fields of science to promote active and creative learning. More recently, the letter “A” for the arts has been added to the acronym because it is believed that it can promote truly transdisciplinary learning. In this work we present our findings regarding an investigation conducted in a private school, during the on-line classes on a discipline called STEAM. The on-line classes happened due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that changed the in-situ teaching-learning paradigm to the distance learning model. In this STEAM discipline the students were challenged to achieve certain objectives in several STEAM activities. After all activities were done the students answered a questionnaire regarding the work done. This data was analyzed using a Mann-Whitney U nonparametric statistical test. Some of the students also participated in interviews regarding the discipline and their enjoyment about the performed activities. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data allowed us to conclude that students, in general, recognize the importance of STEAM activities for their integrated learning, but ranked with higher scores the manual construction activities to the detriment of purely virtual activities. In addition, the data allowed us to study the statistically relevant differences in student responses regarding grades and sex. The results may give important guides for teachers who may desire to implement STEAM education programs in the future.