This research project aims to develop, validate and evaluate a training proposal with a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) approach that promotes creative thinking and teaching skills for the initial training of Primary School pre-service teachers (PST). It aims to contribute to the design of a course elaborated based on the formative proposal and their results, and also elaborate a set of guiding principles for similar formative strategies.
Educating people to achieve future and current needs, demands that we accomplish not only several learning competencies for the 21st century (P21, 2015) but also their impact on society. Science Education (SE) aims to educate citizens to be prepared to their right and duty to make decisions in a conscious and responsible way with the current society and future generations (Galvão et al., 2016).
To consolidate an education that promotes an integrated worldview, it´s crucial to have teachers scientifically prepared and aware of the several kinds of teaching-learning strategies (Rodrigues & Martins, 2018). Therefore, it´s essential that since the beginning of teacher education, teachers are presented to an integrated SE perspective through a Science, Technology and Society (STS) (Vieira et al., 2011) / Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) orientation (Rodrigues, 2011).
STEAM education is an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning, grounded in active learning methodologies and with an emphasis on real-world problem-solving (Shernoff et al., 2017). This approach not only proposes interdisciplinary learning through STEAM areas, but also prepares learners for the professional context by developing skills such as good communication, collaborative work, and the enhancement of interpersonal skills (Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019).
Based on this premise, Challenge Based Learning (CBL) methodology aims to, in a collaborative, multidisciplinary and experiential way, identify, investigate and propose solutions to real problems with an STS orientation (Nichols et al., 2016). From this perspective, the integration of STEAM and CBL has been described as having great potential for the development of 21st-century learning skills (P21, 2015), such as creativity, problem-solving, and others (Sanders, 2019).
The association of these active learning methodologies in SE since the early years, prepares future generations to be real-problem solvers, applying cross-disciplinary concepts coupled with their creative, critical and collaborative skills (Burrows & Slater, 2015). This project highlights the development of creativity throughout learning process. Creativity is a cross-disciplinary skill to produce ideas and strategies, individually or collectively, that are original, critical, plausible and feasible (Beghetto, 2007; Craft, 2009). The educational context should be a driver of human creativity, not a limiting factor (Robinson & Aronica, 2015).
Based on the theoretical background presented, research questions and respective objectives were settled for this research:
General Question: How creative thinking and teaching skills can be promoted for science primary school teaching through a STEAM approach?
Specific Questions:
SQ1. How to develop a proposal for pre-service primary teachers' initial training through a STEAM approach promoting creative thinking?
SQ2. What are the effects of the STEAM formative proposal on developing creative thinking in pre-service primary teachers?
SQ3. What is the relation between the creative thinking level and developing primary science teaching competencies?
Research Goals:
G1. To develop (design, plan, validate, implement and evaluate) a STEAM & Creativity formative proposal that promotes the creative thinking of pre-service teachers.
G2. To evaluate the effects of the STEAM & Creativity formative proposal on the level of creative thinking and its relation to developing teaching skills.
G3. To develop a set of recommendations from the research results for primary school science teacher training.