Keywords: Cultural STEAM (C-STEAM); Teacher Education; Cultural Heritage Pedagogy; Intercultural Learning; Hybrid and Online Teaching

Teacher education is increasingly challenged to prepare future educators for classrooms characterised by cultural diversity, interdisciplinary learning demands, and international collaboration. At the same time, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education has gained prominence as a framework for fostering creativity, problem-solving, and integrative thinking across disciplinary boundaries. However, STEAM initiatives in teacher education often remain disconnected from cultural heritage and intercultural learning, risking a narrow or decontextualised understanding of interdisciplinary education.

This study explores how cultural heritage practices, specifically origami, can function as pedagogical entry points for Cultural STEAM (C-STEAM) learning in pre-service teacher education. Origami, a traditional Japanese art form, offers rich possibilities for interdisciplinary learning across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics while simultaneously carrying cultural meanings that can support intercultural reflection and dialogue. The study is situated within an intercultural origami-based workshop module implemented at a Japanese University, developed collaboratively with international students at a University in Finland as part of an emerging international partnership in teacher education.

Previous research highlights origami’s pedagogical potential for conceptual understanding, creativity, and interdisciplinary and intercultural learning (Ishizawa et al., 2024). Building on this work, the present study extends these insights to teacher education, examining origami as a resource for Cultural STEAM and intercultural pedagogy.

The main objective of the study is not to measure learning outcomes or competence development, but to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions, interests, and initial pedagogical ideas related to the use of origami and cultural heritage practices in STEAM and intercultural education. By focusing on students’ perspectives, the study seeks to inform the design of scalable, hybrid C-STEAM modules for international and multicultural teacher education contexts.

The study is guided by the following research questions:

1. How do pre-service teachers perceive the pedagogical value of origami as a resource for STEAM education?
2. To what extent do pre-service teachers recognise the potential of cultural heritage practices to support intercultural learning?
3. How do pre-service teachers perceive the adaptability of origami-based pedagogy to online and hybrid teaching contexts?

The theoretical framework draws on three complementary strands. First, interdisciplinary and STEAM education theory emphasises learning that bridges disciplinary boundaries through meaningful, creative, and authentic tasks (Al-Mutawah et al., 2022; Henriksen, 2017). Second, intercultural education theory highlights the role of cultural awareness, dialogue, and reflexivity in preparing teachers for diverse and globalised educational environments (Banks, 2015). Third, perspectives on cultural heritage in education stress the pedagogical value of traditional practices as resources for identity, meaning-making, and inclusive learning (Rieckmann, 2017; Utsi-Gaup et al., 2024).

By bringing these perspectives together, the study contributes to ongoing international discussions on how teacher education can integrate interdisciplinarity, cultural heritage, and intercultural competence in accessible and context-sensitive ways. The collaboration between Japanese and Finnish institutions situates the study firmly within an international context and supports dialogue across educational traditions.

The study adopts an exploratory, design-informed mixed-methods approach suitable for examining pre-service teachers’ perceptions and pedagogical interpretations of origami as a culturally familiar learning practice. The design-informed perspective is applied analytically to explore how participants conceptualise the integration of an established pedagogical activity into STEAM education. The participants comprised 74 Japanese first- to fourth-year pre-service teachers enrolled in university-level education seminars. Of these, 26 students were enrolled in the Elementary School Teacher Training Course, and 48 in the Kindergarten and Nursery School Teacher Training Course. Regarding prior exposure to STEAM education, 55% of participants reported having formally studied STEAM education, while 45% indicated a general understanding of STEAM-related concepts. Within the Japanese educational context, origami constitutes a long-established cultural and pedagogical practice introduced from early childhood education onwards. Although most participants did not take part in the origami workshop organised by the research team, all were assumed to possess extensive prior experience with origami through schooling and everyday cultural practices. This shared experiential background provided a common reference point, enabling participants to reflect on origami not as a novel activity but as a familiar pedagogical resource that could be conceptually reinterpreted within a STEAM-oriented framework. Data were collected using a short Google Forms questionnaire designed to minimise student workload while enabling systematic enquiry. The questionnaire comprised five Likert-scale items examining participants’ interest in using cultural heritage activities in teaching, perceived connections between origami and STEAM subjects, confidence in pedagogical application beyond craft-based activities, perceived intercultural learning potential, and perceived adaptability to diverse or hybrid learning contexts. Accordingly, data collection focused on participants’ reflective and interpretive responses rather than on observed instructional performance. In addition, the questionnaire included one multiple-choice item and two open-ended questions inviting participants to propose a simple teaching idea using origami and to reflect briefly on what they found interesting or surprising about origami as a learning activity. This combination enabled descriptive quantitative analysis and qualitative insight into participants’ pedagogical imagination. Quantitative data from the Likert-scale items were analysed using descriptive statistics to identify general trends in students’ perceptions. Qualitative responses were analysed using inductive thematic analysis, focusing on themes related to STEAM integration, cultural heritage, and online teaching ideas. Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Data were anonymised, and the study adhered to ethical guidelines for educational research, with particular attention to cross-cultural collaboration and student participation

The quantitative findings address the three research questions by examining pre-service teachers’ perceptions of origami as a pedagogical resource for Cultural STEAM (C-STEAM), intercultural learning, and online teaching contexts. RQ1: Perceived pedagogical value of origami in STEAM education The results indicate strong interest in the educational use of origami. More than 90% of participants reported interest in incorporating origami into their future teaching, and approximately 90% indicated that origami can be connected to one or more STEAM domains. Participants most frequently associated origami with arts and creativity and arithmetic and mathematics, indicating that origami is widely perceived as a meaningful interdisciplinary learning resource rather than merely a craft-based activity. RQ2: Perceived potential of cultural heritage practices for intercultural learning Participants also demonstrated strong recognition of origami’s intercultural learning potential. Around 90% agreed that origami could support learning among children from diverse cultural backgrounds. However, confidence in pedagogical enactment was more moderate, with approximately 65% reporting confidence in teaching origami to children from different cultural backgrounds. This pattern suggests a divergence between perceived educational value and instructional confidence. RQ3: Perceived adaptability of origami-based pedagogy to online contexts Regarding learning modalities, approximately 65% of participants indicated that origami could be taught online, while only about half reported confidence in teaching origami online themselves. These findings suggest that origami is perceived as adaptable beyond face-to-face contexts, although confidence in online instructional practice remains uneven. This study shows that pre-service teachers perceive origami as a valuable, culturally grounded pedagogical resource for C-STEAM education, with strong interdisciplinary and intercultural relevance. The findings reveal more moderate confidence in teaching origami across cultural differences and in online contexts, highlighting an important pedagogical self-efficacy gap within teacher education. The results inform the continued development of an international, online-hybrid C-STEAM module and support future comparative research.

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