Effects of a STEAM program using an SW teaching tool on the improvement of creativity in elementary school students

초록

In this study, I examined how a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) program, introduced as an alternative course of the curriculum and designed in accordance with attempts for creative and convergent problem-solving under “design thinking” principles, affects the improvement of creativity in 5th grade elementary school students in Korea. In particular, the experimental treatment in this study involved an SW teaching tool called cloudBit, which has been designed to guide students through the principles of the IoT. Specifically, students were asked to create their own living design to deal with weather-related problems and to follow the design process through to the producttesting stage. As students underwent the processes of empathizing, definition, ideation, creating, and testing of a prototype device, they came to observe the users of the device and their hidden needs, and then attempted to engage in creative problem-solving using their own unique means. After a six-week long experimental treatment period, we used Wallach & Kogan’s test to measure improvements in participants’ creativity, and found that the students of the experimental group had significantly improved in both fluency and originality compared to the control group. These results indicate that, in order to enhance creativity in elementary school students, it may be effective to employ methods such as design thinking, which encourage students to easily grasp the stages of problem-solving so that they can actively participate in demonstrating the creative solutions they have developed, rather than simply acquiring knowledge.

키워드