STEAM education: concept, brief history, guidelines and practice

Abstract

STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, promoting meaningful and collaborative learning. This approach recognizes the importance of creativity and innovation in student development. Project-Based Learning (PBL) is fundamental to STEAM, as it promotes transdisciplinarity and connects school concepts with real-world problems. STEAM projects should be integrated and contextualized, avoiding knowledge fragmentation and encouraging investigation, creativity, and critical thinking. Teacher training is essential for the effective implementation of this approach, fostering autonomy and ownership in educators. This is crucial to forming more humane, socially just citizens prepared for challenges. This article reports a practical example of training promoted by the Research Group on Education, Technology, and Digital Culture (GRUPETeC) in a technical school. Teachers from various fields participated in theoretical and practical activities to develop interdisciplinary projects based on the STEAM approach.