[en] Creativity, critical thinking and teamwork in primary education: an interdisciplinary approach through STEAM projects

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: STEAM education entails an approach for coworking with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics that, apart from boosting the development of scientific thinking, impulses the development of some of the key skills of the century XXI. This study explores the impact on creativity, critical thinking and teamwork on 5th and 6th grade students when applying STEAM projects in the classroom. METHOD: This research presents an ethnographic exploratory case study where participants discourse is analysed in a Primary Educational School of Comunidad de Madrid, has as main objective analyzing how children communicate when the student body works in teams with experienced adults who guide them, taking advantage from the potentiality of this powerful resource. RESULTS: The results show that in each phase of the workshop, the inclusion into the classroom of STEAM projects generates educational scenarios that strengthen the mentioned competencies. DISCYSSION: The development of the study reveals the need of saving spaces so that the educational agents keep on investigating with this kind of projects in different contexts for the development of transverse cognitive competencies which go further than rote learning.