Craft- and Project-based Making for STEAM Learning

Science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) learning is a promising way to engage learners, both males and females in the process of inquiry in order to become active makers, designers and innovators. A learning ecosystem that integrates a suitable pedagogical approach as well as technological tools could facilitate this process.

This workshop includes presentations by the eCraft2Learn project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework, keynote speakers Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager as well as interventions from the participant researchers and teachers. During the workshop, we will explore the idea of fostering the link between sciences, technology, engineering, and math with arts, in order to encourage the inclusive participation of students with all levels of technical skills and also to reduce the technology-triggered gender divide.

The eCraft2Learn learning ecosystem will be described from its pedagogical underpinnings to the technical implementations that support the pedagogical approach including a unified user interface and a large set of tools for ideation, planning, creating, programming, and sharing. Within the eCraft2Learn learning ecosystem, support has been developed to enable children to create AI programs that rely upon cloud services [1], learning analytics provides guidance to teachers and coaches [2] [3], and a badge system fosters personalised learning path and self-regulation through gamification. Results from pilot studies will be shared. Presentations from participating international researchers that are working on making for learning will take place, as well as hands-on activities and demonstrations involving the entire audience.